Harriet Potter and the Minister of Magic
by slytherin-nette
Summary: That fateful night in Godric's Hollow, something inside James Potter had changed forever. Becoming the youngest Minister of Magic ever to be appointed, he became obsessed with finding the Dark Lord and avenging the death of his wife. Unfortunately, his pursuits are about to lead him straight back to the daughter he's neglected for fourteen years. Semi-AU. DM/femHP.
1. The Minister's Daughter

**Harriet Potter and the Minister of Magic**

**Author: **slytherin-nette

**Disclaimer:** I don't own Harry Potter or any of the characters you recognize from the HP books in this story. Everything belongs to JK Rowling.

**Summary: **That fateful night in Godric's Hollow, something inside James Potter had changed forever. Becoming the youngest Minister of Magic ever to be appointed, he soon became obsessed with finding the Dark Lord and avenging the death of his wife. He's about to discover, however, that his pursuits are about to lead him straight back to the daughter he's neglected for fourteen years. (AU, DM/femHP).

**Pairings**: DM/femHP (eventual). CD/femHP. RW/HG. BZ/GW. JP/LP (past). SS/LP (one-sided),

**Warnings:** Spoilers from canon (Books 4 to 7). Occasional time jumps from chapter to chapter. Mature content later on.

**Notes: **This is an Alternate Universe featuring James Potter, and a female Harry Potter. I will try to stick to Harry's personality and keep the character as canon as I can. Sirius Black and Remus Lupin will also be featured in the story. I'll be assuming that in this universe, Harry's first year until third year were relatively canon. Afterwards, I will be picking up the story from book 4, and will progress as the chapters go along.

* * *

**Chapter 1 – The Minister's Daughter**

"Miss Potter…?"

At the sound of the impatient voice that had spoken, Harriet Potter blinked slowly and looked up, forcing a smile at the stern-looking secretary that sat in front of the Minister of Magic's office door.

"The Minister will see you now." She intoned, flicking her gaze pointedly to the door behind her.

Harriet nodded and stood up, gathering her things and making her way towards the ajar office door. Peering inside, she heard the familiar voice of the Minister of Magic blaring through the doorway – his tone sounding very agitated as he was conversing to one of his advisers over the floo network.

"I don't _care _if you don't know how to get it done, just get it _done! _I have had it up to _here _with these Death Eater scums, Barty! And I will no longer stand for it! Implicate them as soon as possible!"

She heard a loud popping sound before she poked her head into the room – just in time to see the Minister of Magic flick his wand at the fireplace near the end of the large office and extinguish the fire. Then, without so much as a single word to greet her, he briskly turned his attention back to the stacks of documents piled on his desk and gestured impatiently for her to sit down across from him.

Silently, Harriet had to ponder on the impressive picture the Minister made in front of her.

The man seated in front of her was in his mid-thirties, the youngest Minister of Magic to have ever been appointed into office. He had an innately intimidating presence, as was the case with most Ministry officials she had encountered, but his was an indomitable, single-minded presence that was unwavering and exuded authority – something that did not make him an easy person to be around.

Harriet recalled that most of her female classmates back in school would often call him handsome, and though she herself couldn't see it, she could understand why. He was a tall man, perhaps a little over six feet, with unruly, jet black hair and bright hazel eyes. His form was lean and toned from all his Ministry training, and his features were sharp and refined – obviously from having been born from an aristocratic family. The silver, thin-wired glasses he was wearing shielded her from the intensity of his glare and Harriet leaned back against her seat, offering him a weak, sheepish grin.

"Good morning to you too, Dad."

Lifting his gaze up to meet hers, James Potter ran a hand through his hair in mild irritation, mussing up the strands as he spoke. "Yes, Harry? What is it you needed to talk to me about?" He asked.

Before she even got a chance to respond, James let out an exasperated sigh again and continued. "I'm sorry I won't be able to talk long. I'm up over my head with all of these muggle killings as of late. I have absolutely _no _idea who's behind it yet and frankly, it's beginning to terrify everyone into thinking the worst." James sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose. "Pretty soon, they'll be thinking the Dark Lord has returned from his grave and we absolutely can_not _allow that to happen." He mused out loud.

Shaking her head, Harriet couldn't help the exasperated, slightly disappointed smile on her face as she glanced up at the dark-haired man in front of her and answered him in a calm, pointed voice.

"I know, Dad…You already told me." She answered, trying her best not to sound bored.

Tensing, as though he had only just realized Harriet was in the room, James finally tore his eyes from his desk and stared at his daughter for the first time since she got there – noting the disappointment in her features. If her expression bothered him at all, however, he showed no indication of it. He turned back to his desk again and addressed her in a calmer but more formal tone of voice.

"In that case, what is it you need, love? I'm sorry to be such a grinch so early in the morning, but I've got a lot of work ahead of me today. Unfortunately, I'm up to my neck with problems right now." James explained, looking up again and watching as his daughter seemed to hesitate before speaking up.

"Actually, Dad…I just came here because I wanted to ask your permission about something–" Harry paused in anticipation, already noticing the all-too-familiar way her father's fingers were tightening around his quill. "–er…Well–" Her eyes darted across the room to the gleaming Gryffindor trophies and various other Quidditch paraphernalia that lined the shelves of her father's large office.

"–Ron's invited me over to spend the weekend with his family this Saturday. We'll be watching the Quidditch Cup from the Top Box, you see." Harry paused again and took it as a good sign that the corner of her father's lips actually twitched into a restrained smile. Sensing her open opportunity, she pushed ahead. "It's Ireland against Bulgaria, Dad! It'll be really wicked! In fact, you should come with me; Mr. Weasley's invited you along too!" She rushed out, ignoring her father's attempts to protest.

"Harry, I just don't think I have the time to watch Quidditch right now–"

"Besides, you're the Minister of Magic anyway, you're kind of required to watch the game right? International relations and diplomacy and all that…So how about it, Dad? Can we go?" Harry rushed out again, looking up and watching as James seemed to struggle with indecision to himself for a few minutes.

Sighing, the former Gryffindor raised a hand to massage his temples before answering. "Harry… I love Quidditch as much as you do, sweetheart… But I have a lot of things to worry about. I don't think–"

"Dad, you _always _say that. What exactly do you have time for nowadays, _anyway?_ You already missed my last birthday because of work. You _owe _me this one, at least." Harry pointed out angrily, her eyes narrowing as she glared at her father in frustration. Sighing, she set her face into a displeased scowl.

Trying his best not to let his irritation show, James sighed and set his quill down on his desk.

"Why don't you ask Sirius to go with you, instead? Or Remus? I think he'd appreciate that—"

"Dad, I don't _want _to go with Sirius or Remus. I want to go with _you!" _Harry cut him off sharply, her green eyes flashing with anger. "Besides… Sirius won't be here this weekend; he'll be in Romania for an Auror assignment. And Remus is busy with all of his research." She added before she stood up, placing her hands down onto her father's desk. "Dad, this is important to me…And it would _really _mean a lot to me if you would go. I _rarely _ask you for anything, you _know _that. I just want you to come with me just this once…At _least _before school starts. Then, you won't have me bothering you anymore. _Please?"_

Belatedly realizing that the only way it seemed she was going to get her way was to pull out all the stops, Harriet stared reproachfully at him with big, pleading green eyes that made her father wince and sigh in exasperation. Shaking his head, James groaned and leaned back against his seat in defeat.

"Aw…Don't do that, Harry. You know I hate it when you look at me like that." He grumbled.

Sensing that victory was just within her grasp, Harry bit back a smile and peered down at him again – making sure her eyes were wide and pleading as she stared into her father's wincing expression.

"Please, Dad…? I promise, I'll stop bothering you for the rest of the year." She added ruefully.

At that, James couldn't help the smile that forced its way onto his face.

"Really…the whole _year?"_He asked, raising an eyebrow and giving his daughter a skeptical look.

Harry seemed to relent for a moment, before she shrugged and gave him a sheepish grin.

"A month, at least."

Rolling his eyes at her, James finally shook his head and sighed, giving her a defeated smile.

"If I say yes, will you finally go away and let me work?" He asked her wryly, looking amused as her face instantly softened and she grinned cheekily, her green eyes lighting up with genuine happiness.

"Only if you follow that up by buying me that new Flashbolt model for my birthday."

James snorted in amusement at this, already reaching for his quill and beginning to work again.

"Don't push your luck, Harry. You already got a Firebolt for your birthday last year; you don't need a Flashbolt now. Besides, I would have thought you liked the birthday gifts I got you this year."

"A trunkload of new dresses? Really?" Harriet asked flatly, making a face at him as she sat back against her seat. "Girly, frilly, short dresses that looked like they were made for mannequins. Since when have you ever seen me wearing silly little dresses like that in my entire lifetime, Dad? Think about it."

"You wear dresses all the time, Harry." James answered her distractedly, his attention already wavering off as he skimmed through the report on his desk. "Besides, maybe it's about time you should be getting more interested in things other girls usually like…All this Quidditch surely can't be helping you grow up to be a proper lady. Peter told me that he noticed you were becoming a bit tomboyish lately."

"I don't give a damn what that man thinks, Dad!" Without thinking, Harry's mood turned sour and she suddenly snapped, glaring at James and causing her father to flick his gaze back at her in anger.

"Watch your language, young lady!"

Harry ignored him, however, and she scowled at James again, her eyes flashing. "And _you _shouldn't either! In fact, I don't care if he _is _your advisor; just _stop _listening to what he tells you all the time! Sirius says that Peter's nothing but a suck-up anyway and I think he's right. He's an annoying–"

"—slimy rat with his ears filled with horse dung and his tail tucked between his legs."

Harry and James both jumped in surprise at the new voice who had spoken, both of them looking up just in time to see a tall, black-haired man striding casually into James' office with a wide, familiar grin on his handsome face. The man was in his mid-thirties, about the same age as James, and was currently sporting a pair of black dragon-hide boots and a complete set of defensive Auror robes.

"_SIRIUS!"_

After not having seen her godfather in so many days, Harry practically leaped up out of her seat and launched herself at him, jumping up and catching the tall man in a bone-crushing, affectionate hug. Laughing and pleased at his goddaughter's reaction to him, Sirius Black looked up and shot his scowling best friend a wide grin of greeting just as he was released Harry and set her back down on her feet.

"I missed you too, little Prongs…How are you?" Sirius smiled and playfully mussed up the top of Harry's hair, inadvertently causing some of her long black strands to fall free from her loose ponytail.

"Argh, Paddy, stop that! I just fixed my hair this morning!" She protested with a growl, trying to swat his hand off. Sirius just snorted at this in disbelief but he retracted his hand from her hair anyway.

"If that was your hair 'fixed', then I'd hate to think what it looked like before you fixed it." He teased, before running a hand through his own perfectly styled, sleek black hair. Rolling her eyes, Harriet watched him with an exasperated smile – knowing that her godfather, Sirius Black, was perhaps the vainest man she had ever met. Although to be honest, she couldn't really blame him for being that way.

As the only remaining heir and son of the Black Family, Sirius was often branded by Witch Weekly as one of the most eligible bachelors in the Wizarding World today – second only to Harry's father. Together, James and Sirius were the two most notorious playboys of their generation – and though Harriet had never approved of her father's womanizing on most occasions, a part of her was also relieved that her father had no intention to replace her mother as the one woman he truly cared about.

"You've made your point. You have gorgeous hair, we got it." Harry deadpanned, laughing when Sirius just made a face at her but grinned, plopping himself down onto the seat opposite her.

"You mean _I'm _gorgeous, Harry. What's up, Prongs? How's my favorite, boring best friend?" Sirius turned his attention to the glaring man behind the desk, giving him a wide, cheeky grin. When James said nothing but continued to frown at him, Sirius shook his head and pointed to James' forehead.

"You know, Prongs…You should _really _stop all that scowling you do. It's going to give you premature wrinkles soon. Look, see that age line by your forehead already? That's _not _hot, at all." He joked, and James would have snapped back a retort in annoyance but Harry had interrupted them again.

"Sirius, where _were _you these past few days? I hardly saw you at all this week!" She pointed out, frowning slightly at him. At this, Sirius gave her an apologetic grimace but then smiled as reached over and pinched her cheek. "I'm sorry, kiddo…I have no excuse, actually. Being the Head Auror and all…Well, it comes with its ups and downs, I guess. I was busy this week and last week because of an assignment."

"An assignment you successfully completed, I hope?" James had cut in briskly, diverting both Sirius and Harry's attention back to him and killing the light mood instantly with his impatient voice.

Suddenly sobering, Sirius turned back to James and nodded, reaching into his pocket and setting a small, white envelope on his desk. "Here's that letter you wanted. I'm going back there tomorrow morning to discuss that thing we talked about. Hopefully, all of these cases are just coincidences." Sirius added ruefully, letting out a weary sigh as James inspected the envelope he had set down on the table.

"And you spoke of this to no one else?"

"Not a soul, Prongs."

"What are you guys talking about, Dad?"

Both men suddenly stiffened and exchanged a quick glance with each other before they looked at Harry again, noting the puzzled expression on her face. For a moment, James found himself staring awkwardly back at his daughter as he tried to figure out what to say. Fortunately, however, Sirius resolved the moment by grinning and distracting Harry again by jumping to his feet and yanking her up.

"Merlin's beard, Harry! Look at you, it's almost as though you've gotten bigger since the last time I saw you!" He exclaimed cheerfully, twirling the teen around and laughing when Harry just scowled and stuck her tongue out at him, crossing her arms over her chest. "I _really _hope you didn't mean that I was growing 'horizontally', old man. Because I'd have to punch you." She grinned at him.

Sirius snorted derisively at this, raising an eyebrow and giving her a challenging look. Taking a few steps back from James' desk, he grinned and raised his arms up at her, beckoning Harry over to him.

"Oh, _I'm _old, huh? Well then, let's see what you got, Potter. Come on; have at this old man!"

He challenged but unfortunately, he didn't exactly get very far as Harry had launched herself right at him – going straight for his wand arm and attempting to wrestle it behind his back. Chuckling, Sirius easily maneuvered himself out of her hold and reversed their position so that he had Harry's arm twisted behind her instead, instantly causing the Gryffindor to groan out loud and burst out laughing.

"Alright, alright! I give, I give! Let go already! You win; you're _not_ old! You're just…_mature!"_ Harry chimed out, still laughing as Sirius finally released her and rewarded her with a superior smirk.

"Close, kiddo…Getting closer but not _quite _good enough to take me down yet. In fact, you even almost hurt me this time, I'm impressed." Harry rolled her eyes at him as she sat back down. "Keep practicing and you just _might _manage to make me break a sweat one day." Sirius added with a wink.

Grinning back, Harry stuck her tongue out at him. "Well, you'd _better _watch your back, Padfoot. I'm getting better, even Tonks says so. One day, you'll be running for your position as Head Auror." She retorted in a superior tone of voice, this time causing both Sirius and James to grin at her in amusement.

Finally looking up from his work, James chucked his daughter affectionately on her chin.

"And I'm quite certain that you'll knock Sirius on his rear one day, Prongslet." He told her with a rare smile, causing Harry's eyes to soften instantly as she smiled at her father's special pet name for her.

Across from them, Sirius winced at James' words and smiled ruefully in agreement.

"You'd better believe it, Prongs…Did your darling little girl over there tell you that Snivellus actually gave her two weeks' worth detention last year for beating up a student who was picking on her friends? She was so scared you'd find out, she sent her disciplinary notice to me instead of you" He mentioned, immediately causing Harry to flinch in panic and glare sharply at her godfather in disbelief.

"Sirius! You weren't supposed to tell him that!" She screeched.

"Is that true, Harry?!"

James' affectionate smile had melted away into his usual frown as he glared disapprovingly at her, clearly demanding an explanation. When Harry offered him none and merely grimaced at him, James turned his attention back to Sirius' slightly sheepish expression and narrowed his eyes in question.

"Snape gave her detention? What did you do _this _time, Harry? I can't believe your recklessness!"

"Dad, it was _Snivellus, _of course he gave me detention! He hates me simply for being your daughter, you _know _that! This wasn't entirely my fault anyway, if you knew what really happened—"

"Whether it was Snape or not, I'm sure he had a perfectly good reason to give you detention, Harry. I'm disappointed with you. I _told _you not to draw too much attention to yourself already—"

"Now hold on a minute there, mate, I think you're being a little unfair here. I'm with Harry on this one, we know how Snivellus is, I mean…The bloody git still has a personal vendetta against you." Sirius tried to reason out but James just rolled his eyes and glared at Sirius as though he was insane.

"Oh _grow up, _Sirius! Don't be ridiculous, that was more than fourteen years ago, I doubt _any _respectable witch or wizard in their right mind would hold a grudge that long. Besides, I apologized to Severus a long time ago for the way I treated him—" James was cut off when Harry had snapped at him.

"If you paid _any _attention to the letters I sent you at _all, _you'd realize that Snape still hates you, Dad! And just to tell you, he's taking out all that revenge on _me _instead of you! And yet, you _still _blame me for it? Why can't you take _my _side?!" Harry raged, her pale features flushing with frustrated anger as she stood up from her seat and glared down at her father's wide-eyed, disbelieving expression in fury.

"Harry, sit down! What are you doing—"

"For once, I wish you'd just _stop _being the goddamn Minister of Magic all the time and just…Just… I don't know, just be my _DAD _again then maybe you'd understand_!_" Harry's voice had choked up near the last part of her sentence but she turned around to avoid James' gaze. Just as Sirius stood up talk to her, however, she had bolted out of the office – ignoring both men's loud calls after her.

She had just about enough time to hear her father's angry shout for her to come back before Harry slammed the door as loud as she could, making sure the sound echoed in the silence of the halls.

* * *

"Harriet Jamie Potter, you do _not _walk out on your father!" James had shouted after Harry, his eyes flashing with anger and his jaw clenched tightly in frustration as he watched her slam the door shut.

The harsh sound was almost deafening as he and Sirius stared awkwardly at each other, both men looking uneasy and sighing as they listened to the sound of Harry's footsteps running down the hall. Finally, as soon as her footsteps had faded into the distance, Sirius turned and gave James an angry glare.

"You should have listened to her, you know."

Furious with his opening statement, James opened his mouth to cut him off but Sirius continued.

"To be honest, I actually think that _this _time, Harry was right. That old git Snivellus _has _got it out for her and has been intentionally giving her a hard time in school simply for being your daughter." Sirius pointed out, causing James' scowl to deepen again as he growled and slammed his fist against the table.

"Damn it, that was _such _a bloody long time ago! Do you think I have time right now to be taking trips down memory lane and keep apologizing to Snape for being the bully I once was?! Merlin's beard, Sirius! I was a _child _back then! We all were! I've done my part, I've already apologized to that bastard before, Harry will just _have _to suck it up and deal with it on her own!" James reasoned out with finality.

To his surprise, Sirius' expression had hardened and he sneered at him in surprised disgust.

"So you're not even going to side with your own daughter or even help her out? Really, James? Is that what you've been reduced to now?" Sirius shook his head, giving his best friend an angry glare. "Fourteen years ago, the man I called my best friend would have sent a mountain troll on anyone who dared to hurt his daughter. Now you're just going to let Harry deal with this on her own?" He asked.

James' eyes flashed dangerously and he glared right back at Sirius in cold warning.

"The man you knew is _dead_. He died with his wife fourteen years ago. _This _is who I am now, and the sooner you understand that and stop giving me shit about it, the better." He drawled coldly. Blatantly choosing to ignore the sad resigned look Sirius gave him, James changed the subject instead.

"To top it all off, that girl gets more and more tomboyish every day." He narrowed his eyes, turning around to glare at Sirius' weak grin. "And you're not exactly helping her either with all your brutish roughhousing…How do you expect her to ever become a proper woman when you encourage her boyish recklessness all the time?" He admonished but to his irritation, Sirius just burst out laughing.

"Well, it's a little too late for that, don't you think? Considering she grew up with you, me and Remus as her only examples, I'm surprised she's even figured out she's a woman at all." He joked lightly.

James growled at him with narrowed eyes. "I'm serious, you prat! It's not funny!"

"No, actually, _I'm _Sirius." Sirius automatically supplied with a cheeky grin and bark-like laugh.

"I am _not _in the mood, Black." James gritted his teeth and clenched his quill in frustration as he watched his dark-haired best friend guffaw loudly at his own worn-out, old joke since their school days.

When James continued to glare impatiently at him in frustration, Sirius just rolled his eyes and propped his feet up onto the chair Harry had vacated. "What are you so worried about anyway, Prongs? Harry's just fourteen; she's got plenty of time to realize she's a woman once puberty fully kicks in. What's your hurry? In fact, I would have thought you'd be happy about the fact that you don't have to worry about having annoying buggers trying to court your little girl away from you just yet." He added.

At this, James' features softened slightly and he managed an amused smirk in response. "Well, I suppose there is _that _positive side to this issue at least." Then, frowning, he raised an eyebrow at Sirius in question. "Speaking of which, who _was _that bugger she beat up in her third year anyway?" He asked.

"Draco Malfoy."

In spite of himself, James actually burst out laughing at the mock-grim smile on Sirius' face.

"Lucius Malfoy's son?!"

"The very one."

James laughed again, shaking his head in amusement. "Bloody hell, I wish I could have seen the look on Lucius' face! That would have been wicked." He managed to wheeze out through his sniggers.

Smirking, Sirius raised an eyebrow and gave him a pointed look. "So what was that about you complaining about her being too brutish and reckless again, Prongs? Care to eat your words, then?"

"Hey, I never said—"James opened his mouth to protest sharply when Sirius beat him to it..

"She's _little Prongs, _James! She's a miniature, girl version of _you_! You have to give your daughter more credit than that. If anything, you have no right to be chastising her for emulating her father!" Sirius told him, watching as all sorts of conflicting emotions began to play themselves out on James' features.

"I never said that, Sirius…I just…Well, I just want my little girl to grow up like her mother—"

"She's growing up like _you, _James." Sirius cut him off with an amused, pointed look.

Irritated at the truth he found in Sirius' words, James could only scowl back at him in embarrassment. "Well… I didn't exactly set the best example for my daughter. In fact, you remember that I was a horrible kid when I was her age." James chose to ignore Sirius' snort of agreement and sighed, his eyes deep in thought. "I just want what's best for her…Lily would have known what to do. She would have been the perfect role model…And Harry would have grown up to be exactly like her—"

At the weariness he heard in his best friend's voice, Sirius looked up at him with a frustrated sigh.

"You have got to _stop_ doing that to yourself, mate. It's been fourteen years…I doubt Lily would have wanted you to live your life like this. She would have wanted you to move on. And she would have been _proud _of the way Harry's growing up to be exactly like her father. She would have loved Harry—"

"I thought I told you never to talk about my dead wife, Sirius!" James snapped, his eyes flashing dangerously but Sirius ignored him and continued, his expression darkening into a stubborn scowl.

"James, you know if you actually paid a bit more attention to your daughter, you'd realize that she's was never like Lily at all_. _On the contrary, she's always been just like _you._" Sirius pointed out but James was no longer listening by now and was already turning back to the papers piled on his desk.

"I really think I should be getting back to work, Sirius. You should be too—"

"She looks like you, she _acts _like you, hell she even inherited your natural talent for trouble and mischief, from what I hear. I'm sure Lils would have loved Harry for being exactly like her father." Sirius added with a grin. To his dismay, however, James just slammed his fist down onto the table at his words.

"I said stop it, Sirius."

Sirius shook his head.

"No, I will _not. _James. Most of the Death Eaters are rotting away in Azkaban already. Bloody hell, isn't it about time for you to just…move on with your life?! Just…wake up! Harry needs her father–"

"I said shut _up, _Sirius!" By now, James was livid with rage and he was shaking as he reached over his desk and grabbed at Sirius' robes, yanking the other man and pointing his wand warningly at his face.

Sirius just arched an eyebrow coolly at him, refusing to be intimidated. After a long, tense moment, however, he noted that James appeared to be cowering back more and more. Soon enough, the young Minister of Magic was trembling as he released Sirius and collapsed against his seat in defeat.

"Goddamn it…" James muttered weakly as he sank back down against his desk and covered his face with both of his hands. "Goddamn it, Sirius…Don't you think I _know _all that…? I understand what you're saying." He sighed again as he looked up, meeting Sirius' questioning gaze with a grim smile.

"But _you _have to understand that I have my own reasons. I'm doing all of this is precisely _for _my daughter." He began softly, but when Sirius looked annoyed and tried to interrupt him, he continued. "I'm her father, Sirius. I want to make sure that Harry grows up in a world that's safe from people like the man who killed her mother. A place where people like Voldemort don't exist and can never hurt her again." As he spoke, James' expression began to harden with his resolution, and he frowned at Sirius.

"And I believe that I'm making the best decision for both of us. I love Harry enough to know that if I have to sacrifice time with her to protect her, then so be it." James ended with a tone of finality to his voice. When he looked back up and noticed that Sirius was just glaring at him, he snapped again.

"What?!"

With an incredulous scoff, Sirius just shook his head and stared at him in disbelief.

"And I suppose that you just expect me to believe that Harry's going to understand all that? Merlin's beard, James, she's a fourteen-year-old kid! You don't even tell her anything about her mother! I hate to tell you, mate, but If you continue doing this, she's going to end up hating you forever—"

"Are you quite finished lecturing me about my own daughter, Black?" James cut him off, his voice growing icy with contempt as he snatched his glasses off his face and gave Sirius a very cold glare.

Suddenly realizing that he had overstepped his bounds, Sirius hesitated and tried to speak again.

"Look, I'm sorry if I sound as though I'm trying to interfere, I really am. But I just thought—"

"I have work to do, and if you don't leave, then I'd be glad to have you escorted out of my office." James cut him off again, already tuning the other man out as he put his glasses back on and turned back to the documents piled on his desk. Sighing, Sirius reluctantly got up and began to walk out of the room.

"There's the door, I trust you know how to use it, Black. Now get the hell out."

Annoyed at the sudden iciness of his best friend's mood, Sirius paused just as he reached the doorway, turning around to give the young Minister of Magic before him a defiant, pointed glare.

"You can't avoid this conversation forever, Potter."

With that, the Head Auror shook his head and walked off, slamming the door behind him just as loudly as Harry had done and unwittingly causing James to flinch as he was left to his own dark thoughts.

"Watch me."

Sighing and reluctantly setting his quill back down onto the table, James buried his face into his hands. In his exhaustion, he closed his eyes, forcing himself to ignore the familiar feelings of pain and grief overwhelming him as all those beautiful, bittersweet memories of Lily began to flood his thoughts.

Opening his eyes slowly, James reached down towards the very bottom drawer of his desk, extracting from it a beautifully framed photograph. He set it down onto his table slowly, right beside another photograph, and stared at the two pictures in silence, his eyes clouding over with sadness.

_Lily._

The first photograph was one that James hadn't looked at in _years – _that of his and Lily's wedding fifteen years ago. What had once been such a beautiful, happy memory so many years ago now brought him so many feelings of grief and sorrow that before long, James had quickly snatched the photograph away, hastily shoving it back into his bottom drawer and closing it with a resounding snap.

It wasn't until a few agonizing moments later that he was finally able to take in a deep breath and pick up the other photograph on his desk. He stared at it for a long time, his eyes soft with emotion.

It was a photograph of Harry last year – just after she had won the House Cup for Gryffindor.

James remembered the memory clearly, and thinking back on it now still brought a proud smile to his face as he recalled exactly how effortlessly and gracefully his daughter had caught the winning snitch for that game. Harry was born a natural flyer, much like James was, and he had never been more proud of her in that moment as he had watched her holding that gold Quidditch trophy up in triumph.

His beautiful young daughter was his pride and joy, James could only hope she knew that too.

Since the day she was born, James knew that his little Prongslet was going to be the most beautiful Quidditch player of her generation one day – and he was right of course. With each passing day, James could only watch in anticipation as his little girl began to grow into a lovely young woman.

Like James, Harriet's long hair was mostly straight and jet-black, cascading freely down her back and ending in big curls just above her waist. Her eyes were her mother's – bright green and constantly sparkling with laughter – while the rest of her features were pale and refined, much like James' was.

She had Lily's selflessness, of course, and her easy temperament– but it was her fiery personality and knack for mischief that she had so perfectly inherited from her father, and James often found himself smiling at how much she took after him not only in appearance, but also in personality.

_My little Prongslet. _James thought to himself, smiling at his special pet name for her.

More than anything, James knew that it was only a matter of time before the boys in Harriet's year would sit up and begin to notice the beauty his daughter was rapidly becoming. Hell, some were already even beginning to take notice_– _like that Hufflepuff Harriet was always with– and that irritated James enough that he was tempted to hire a bodyguard to watch over Harry while she was at school.

_As if she didn't hate you enough. _James berated himself silently with a wry, humorless smile.

Shaking his head, he set Harriet's framed picture back down onto the corner of his table and sighed, leaning back against his seat in thought. In the silence, he heard Sirius' words resounding in his head again and without anyone there to see him, James covered his face, his shoulders sagging in defeat.

_Am I doing the right thing Lily? _

James lifted his head from his hands and stared sorrowfully at his daughter's picture again.

_Will our daughter hate me forever?_

* * *

Harriet breezed past the Minister's office without a word, trying her best to ignore the reprimanding glare her father's fifty-year-old secretary sent her as she stormed out. It didn't actually take long for her to reach the elevators, though she chose to stop when she reached the newspaper stand near the end of the corridor. Scowling, Harriet picked up this morning's paper in contempt.

_**Exclusive Interview with James Potter: Is the Minister of Magic Harboring a Rebellious, Attention-Seeking Daughter?**_

**Written by Rita Skeeter**

_James Merrick Potter, age thirty-five, is certainly no stranger to anyone in the Wizarding World nowadays. The young Minister of Magic is often seen in the company of almost every Wizarding official worldwide, and is more often than not, the favorite handsome face of our own Wizarding media when it comes to our newspapers. As the former Head Boy of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, one of the top students in his graduating Class, and the only Wizard to have ever brought down most of the former Death Eaters now residing in Azkaban, James Potter has always been in the media's spotlight._

_But who exactly is the man behind all the titles, some of you may ask?_

_A Quidditch Enthusiast and former school Champion?_

_A former teenage prankster?_

_A notorious playboy bachelor?_

_A loving, obliging father?_

_As we all know, the Minister is father to young Harriet Potter, the legendary child who unknowingly saved the Wizarding World from the threat of the Dark Lord. Born as the only living person ever to have actually survived the illegal killing curse, Harriet Jamie Potter is the one and only daughter of Minister James Potter and his late wife, Lily Evans. Sadly, Lily was murdered by the Dark Lord that fateful night, about two months after young Harry was born. Upon turning his wand to kill Harry, however, the Dark Lord's killing curse was reported to have backfired on him, killing him in the process._

_He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named was never seen in the Wizarding World again, and we have all come to recognize our young Harriet Potter as the acclaimed Girl-Who-Lived._

_At the moment, it would seem that Minister Potter is very adamant in protecting his only daughter from the watchful eye of the public. Sources have concluded the Minister's daughter has been attracting more and more attention to herself as of late. Given her recent involvement with many cases centered around Hogwarts, as well as from the claims of this reporter's classified inside sources, it would seem that the Girl-Who-Lived has been trying to covet her busy father's attention for a long time now – and has been consistently unsuccessful with her efforts. Once must wonder if this were to continue, or if Harriet Potter is merely looking for the right opportunity to divert her father's attention?_

_Fortunately, your correspondent was lucky enough to actually bump into the Minister himself, and below are the details of the exclusive interview with the most politically powerful father in England:_

_**RS**: So…Mr. Potter….Is it all right if I call you that? Or would you prefer , "Minister Potter"?_

_**JP**: (smiles) James is perfectly acceptable, Rita. There's no need for the formality._

_**RS**: I'd appreciate that, James…Thank you! So…How have you been lately? Word is, you've been very busy these past few days, the rest of us have been reading about how you've been flying to and from England to talk to the other Ministry officials from around the world. Anything of concern?_

_**JP**: None whatsoever. I apologize, I'm sure everyone reading the Daily Prophet in the morning is probably sick of seeing my face by now–_

_**RS**: On the contrary, Minister…I'm sure many witches out there feel differently about seeing your face on the newspaper everyday, if you know what I mean._

_**JP**: (laughs) Oh well, I don't know about that now. But on the part of any concerns of the public, I can assure you all, there's nothing to worry about. The Ministry and I have just been very active with our diplomacy programs and tourism promotions this year. That's why we've been moving around a lot. Especially with the anticipated TriWizard Tournament coming up, I'm sure everyone's heard by now–_

_**RS**: Ah yes! Of course, I remember! The TriWizard tournament is up to be held in England this year isn't it? And if I'm not mistaken, I've read that it will be taking place in our very own Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, is that correct?_

_**JP**: You heard right, Rita. I've already spoken with Albus Dumbledore, the tournament will officially be taking place on Hogwarts school grounds. It should actually be a very interesting event so we're all very excited for it. It's something to look forward to, I'm sure._

_**RS**: Hogwarts, huh…? That must bring back memories for you then, doesn't it James? If I recall, not too long ago, you were one of the chosen Champions to participate in the TriWizard tournament yourself during your time? Will you tell us a little more about that?_

_**JP**: (laughs) Ah, well…I was but I didn't win though. I did participate in the TriWizard tournament back in my day, but I was just second place. Although my not winning was certainly not due to lack of effort on my part, I assure you. (winks)_

_**RS**: I'm sure you were marvelous, Minister. So…If that's the case…Your daughter, Harriet, goes to Hogwarts, does she not? If I may ask, what year is she in right now?_

_**JP**: Yes, she's enrolled in Hogwarts for the coming term. She's entering her fourth year._

_**RS**: What house?_

_**JP**: (grins) Gryffindor, of course. Just like her old man._

_**RS**: Ah yes, of course. I read that the Potters have always been a family line of Gryffindors._

_**JP**: Down to the very last one._

_**RS**: I also heard she's been seen hanging around the Hogwarts school grounds with Cedric Diggory. I believe he's actually the son of another official of yours? Amos Diggory, your Head of International Relations? Are there any plans of an actual engagement in there for our young Harry?_

_**JP**: (winces) No, I don't think so, Rita. Harry is just a child right now. And I don't think she appreciates all the spotlight being given to her and her relationships for simply for being my daughter._

_**RS**: Well, she is also the Girl-Who-Lived, Minister…I suppose her fame is unavoidable._

_**JP**: That's true._

_**RS**: So… On that note, any chance of having young Harry enter the tournament this year then? I'm sure she'd want to try and go after her successful father's footsteps, and with her luck, she could very well be living out her "old man's" dream, could she not?_

_**JP**: No, absolutely not. My daughter is only fourteen. If I remember my experience with the tournament correctly, and I do…It is only suitable for students seventeen years old and above. To have a student younger than that compete would prove to be dangerous. In any case, to those interested, please keep yourself updated on further announcements from your designated officials–_

_**RS**: Again about your daughter, Minister…Do you have any comments about her alleged involvement with the disappearance of the Sorcerer's Stone during her first year? Or her alleged involvement surrounding the case with that DADA professor who died in Hogwarts three years ago?_

_**JP**: I'm afraid I have no comment on the matter._

_**RS**: But surely you must have something to tell us, Minister…Rumors have cited that Harry was actually the one who found the Sorcerer's Stone and then later, destroyed it when it was almost coveted by You-Know-Who. Is this actually true? Also, what happened to that DADA professor who died?_

_**JP**: This was an old case that was closed many years ago. Harry was involved in this matter, as it was she and her friends who found the Sorcerer's Stone and prevented it from falling into the wrong hands. That professor you speak of, however…He died because of a bad case of…parasites._

_**RS**: Parasites?_

_**JP**: Yes. Parasites._

_**RS**:I see…And back in second year…Your daughter was implicated again when some of the muggleborns back in Hogwarts began to be petrified. This was linked to something called the 'Chamber of Secrets'. In fact, Harry was even suspected of being the Heir of Slytherin, is this all correct?_

_**JP**: This is a ridiculous and absolutely false claim, I can assure you. My daughter is my own and she is no Heir of Slytherin. My family is directly descended from Godric Gryffindor, there is not a single drop of Salazar Slytherin blood in our veins._

_**RS**: And what of the petrified students? Have we figured out the reason for this case?_

_**JP**: We are still heavily in the middle of investigating this matter. I have my best Aurors still on the job at the moment._

_**RS**: And have they questioned your daughter already?_

_**JP**: My daughter is not a suspect to be questioned regarding this case._

_**RS**: I see…So does that mean you have no idea about your daughter's actual involvement with what happened?_

_**JP**: (frowning) I never said that, Rita–_

_**RS**: Or do you think that in her case, it was merely an attempt to call your attention on her part? A sign of a rebellious, teenage girl who had to resort to causing trouble to get you to notice her?_

_**JP**: My daughter is not trying to seek my attention; she had nothing to do with what happened. Look, I quite apologize Rita… But at the risk of sounding horribly rude, I must be going now. I have a scheduled meeting in five minutes. Thank you very much for this opportunity._

_**RS**: Thank you, Minister!_

_I suppose for now, only time will tell us exactly what our young Miss Potter has up her sleeves to draw her busy father's attention during the upcoming school year. A new love interest, perhaps?_

_Till next time, Wizards and Witches!_

_Who does that woman think she is?!_

Harry's eyes flashed in anger as she crumpled the newspaper up in her hand and tossed it into a nearby trash can. Fuming, she barely registered that she was in the middle of the Ministry corridor when she cursed again and snapped, aiming an angry kick at the trash can and sending it flying across the floor.

_I can't believe she's targeting me again! And I can't believe Dad even agreed to give her an interview, he knows how much I hate her! What a stupid decision to make, what was he thinking?! _Harry raged to herself, scowling and clenching her fists until her fingernails were digging into her palms.

Harry had _always _been doubtful about the decisions her father has been making as of late.

With all of his current radical propaganda in Dark Arts eradication and his recent ties with notorious Anti-Dark Arts political figures like Rufus Scrimgeour, Amos Diggory and Barty Crouch. It had come to that point where James had publicly announced his support of the death penalty for convicted Death Eaters – which of course, led to more controversy and political issues from all sorts of groups.

And when her father wasn't on his anti-Dark Arts campaign, he was out hunting for wizards or witches which he termed as 'Dark Potentials' – basically, any magical person who displayed even the _slightest _similarity to He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named and thus, were to become the next Dark Lord.

For her part, Harry thought that her father's destructive behavior was bordering on obsession_. _

_He must miss Mom terribly… He loved her more than anything else. _Harry thought sadly, her eyes brimming with tears as she looked back on how her father had fared for the past couple of years.

All Harry saw in her father now was a harsh, frowning man who hardly ever looked at her and always seemed to act awkward or formal whenever she was around. He hardly showed her any affection either – as though it genuinely _pained _him to even look at her. Harry knew why – James had loved Lily so much that every time he looked at Harry, he was only reminded of the fact that his wife was gone.

From what Harry could remember, and from what Sirius and Remus had often told her back when she was still a child, her father was never really quite the same person after her mother's death.

It was as though the mischievous, easygoing leader of the Marauders that Lily Potter had fallen in love with had died with her. In fact, Harry often found that she couldn't even associate the old school pictures of James she saw in Remus' old photo albums with the man she now knew to be her father.

The handsome dark-haired teen she saw beside her mother in those photographs was a bright, carefree spirit – with his laidback, impish grin and the mischievous sparkle in his bright, laughing hazel eyes. Those days, beside his wife, James Potter had looked as though he was the happiest man alive.

_That _realization about her father hurt Harry most of all.

_It's no wonder Dad doesn't even want to see me at all…It was for me that Mom died. I'm the reason she's gone. And I can't really blame Dad for hating me because of that. _Harry thought quietly to herself, blinking rapidly in frustration when she felt the tears beginning to pool in her bright green eyes.

Nowadays, she even considered herself lucky if she was able to see her father _twice_ a week.

Most of the time, James would lock himself up in his office in the Ministry of Magic – only to accept important meetings and messages from appointments specifically scheduled by his secretary or his advisor, Peter Pettigrew. Even _Harry _had to schedule an appointment with him, it was _ridiculous. _

She couldn't even enjoy his company during her summer breaks from school either.

Her father would often arrive home with a scheduled meeting over dinner – and most of the time, Harriet would just be forced to sit through an entire meal of listening to them discuss their work.

More than James' dinner meetings, however, Harry _particularly _hated it when they had dinner scheduled with James' father – the retired Potter patriarch, _Augustus Potter III. _Truth be told, her grandfather – with all of his pureblood customs and strict penchants for traditional social rituals – reminded her too _much _of Lucius Malfoy for her liking so mostly, she chose to stay away from him.

Harry _wished _she could have known her muggle grandparents from her mother's side. Unfortunately, Lily parents were also gone – murdered by the Dark Lord before Harriet was even born.

Her father and grandfather were the only remaining relatives Harriet had left and although she was more than _thankful _that she still had them as a family, she wished they felt the same way about her.

_Frankly, I'd be happy enough if Dad just knew I existed. _Harry thought bitterly to herself.

Their dinners with her father's advisor, Peter Pettigrew, didn't bode well with Harry either.

Despite the fact that she knew Peter was one of her father's best friends, something about him unsettled her – not to mention the fact that she hated how he just loved to monopolize James' attention all the time. It seemed that _every _time Peter called on her father or wrote to him, James would be rushing off again, leaving Harry alone in their huge estate until the wee hours of the following morning.

Perhaps the _only _good thing she remembered about her summer vacations were those times when Sirius or Remus would come over to visit them. Though Sirius was Harry's official godfather on paper, the Head Auror was sometimes too busy to take care of her all the time. Those times, Remus took it upon himself to become her second godfather. He and his wife, Nymphadora Tonks, often took care of Harry when she was a baby and she had grown up regarding them as her godparents as well.

Sighing softly as she began to drift back from her thoughts, Harry was just about to bend down to pick up her discarded newspaper from the trash can again when a familiar voice out of nowhere suddenly spoke up from behind her, causing the small Gryffindor to jump and whirl around in surprise.

"Rummaging through the trash bin now, Potter? I must say, it suits you."

At the annoyingly familiar snide voice that had spoken, Harry instantly stiffened in annoyance.

She whirled around quickly, glaring at the smirking blonde standing in the corridor behind her.

"What are _you _doing here, Malfoy?"

* * *

**A/N: **Of course, you'd all know that a story was written by yours truly when there's a cliffhanger at the end of nearly every chapter. Wahaha. I've always wanted to write a story that featured James. He's always been one of my favorite characters. Strange that I just wrote about him now (^_^)

To readers of my other stories, I will be finishing Phoenix Tears, I promise. Just be patient with me. :D

So how about it guys, what are your thoughts about this new story? Please do give me your comments and suggestions by sending me a review, I would love to hear them! Till next time! :D

**Next Chapter: **What exactly happened that fateful night in Godric's Hollow?


	2. That Awkward Stage

**Harriet Potter and the Minister of Magic **

**Disclaimer:** I don't own Harry Potter or any of the characters you recognize from the HP books in this story. All I own is the plot. Everything else belongs to JK Rowling.

**Pairings**: DM/femHP (eventual). CD/femHP. RW/HG. JP/LP (past). SS/LP (one-sided).

**Warnings:** Spoilers from canon (Books 4 to 7). Occasional time jumps from chapter to chapter. Mature content later on.

**Notes: **A big, warm thank you to everyone who reviewed! I realize that James is being a bit of a jerk right now but I'm fully intent on developing his character in this story so I hope you all stick around for that. Enjoy the chapter! (^_^)

* * *

**Chapter 2 – That Awkward Stage**

"What are _you_ doing here, Malfoy…?"

Harry felt a surge of irritation as she found herself staring at Draco Malfoy's smug smirk at her from where he was standing in the corridor several feet away. The blonde Slytherin had been on his way to one of the Ministry elevators when he had turned a corner and ran into her – much to her dismay.

Groaning silently, Harry couldn't help but curse her stroke of bad luck and timing. She took a deep breath and stared back at the tall blonde, calmly raising one of her eyebrows at him in question.

Her long-time rival of four years sneered back at her in response, his mercury-gray eyes glinting maliciously. "Where are Weasel and the Mudblood? Aren't they supposed to be trailing after your shadow all the time?" He drawled as he crossed his arms and leaned casually against the corridor wall.

For a few seconds, Harry just glared at him – highly annoyed at the arrogance of his pose and the way the handsome Slytherin was obviously amused at her discomfort. Even outside of Hogwarts, Harry noted with a hint of resentment that Draco Malfoy looked nothing less than pristine and immaculate. His platinum blonde hair was gelled, and his robes were pressed to perfection. Underneath, he wore a gray collared shirt, black trousers, and an expensive pair of gleaming black leather shoes.

Frankly, when Harry compared his appearance to her own uncombed hair, baggy jeans, sweatshirt, and mud-caked sneakers, she couldn't help but scowl at him even more in embarrassment.

_Poncy prick is even girlier than I am. _She thought irritably to herself.

"If you have nothing better to say, then get lost." Harry snapped, turning around and throwing the rest of the newspaper back into the trash can. She would have been happy to walk away but to her annoyance, the blonde Slytherin smirked and intentionally stepped in front of her to block her path.

"What, just because _you're_ the Minister's Daughter, you think you're the only student who's allowed to set foot in the Ministry of Magic, Pothead? I think not. Don't get ahead of yourself again." Malfoy taunted loudly, his voice dripping with derision as Harry tensed and glared at him in response.

"No, I do _not _think that I'm the only student allowed to set foot in the Ministry of Magic, Malfoy. Although I would think that Death Eater traitors such as you and your family would be afraid of a place like this." She shot back, feeling a sense of satisfaction when she saw the way Malfoy's jaw tightened.

Even as Malfoy had opened his mouth to cut her off, Harry continued, her eyes narrowing in suspicion. "Is your father visiting his dear 'friend' Pius Thicknesse again?" Harry shook her head. "You know, I have to hand it to your father. For him to make friends with the Head of the Magical Law Enforcement…? What an ingenious way to keep himself from getting into Azkaban." She mused out loud.

Malfoy's pale cheeks suddenly flushed with anger and a cold snarl had formed on his face.

"Don't you dare talk about things you don't understand, Potter–"

"I don't have to." Harry cut him off coldly. "Mark my words, Malfoy…My father and Sirius are _both _intent to have you, your father, and even your little Ministry friend _Thicknesse _brought into Azkaban soon. You can't evade the truth forever…" She spoke slowly, making sure to emphasize the word 'Azkaban' so that the older teen had visibly paled and stepped backward from her in hesitation.

The Slytherin's gray eyes had darkened anger as he glared at her and gave her a cold sneer.

"You have no right to act all high and mighty. You don't know anything about me_ or _my family." He spat back contemptuously, his face twisting into that snide, angry snarl that Harry so often had directed at her back in school. She was accustomed to their usual exchange, however, and instead of backing away, she just scoffed and turned around, walking around him and heading down the hallway.

"Personally, I'd like to keep it that way. Now, if you'll excuse me–"

"At least I _have _a family, you know." Malfoy had called after her with a cruel, snide smirk, immediately causing Harry to whirl around and glare at him with vehemently flashing green eyes. "At least I _have _a family – a father _and _a mother who care about me. Can you say the same about yourself these days?" He added, his smirk growing when he saw the way her cheeks had flushed in humiliation.

Seething and fuming with anger, Harry was beginning to see red as she glanced back at him.

"Don't talk about my family, you jerk–"

With a sly grin, Malfoy slowly held up his copy of the Daily Prophet in his hand – showing her the large picture of her and her father plastered on the front page. "I gather you saw Skeeter's latest masterpiece on you and your father this morning, Potter? What was it about again…Ah yes! About you being an attention-seeking little whore who can't even get enough of Daddy's time and attention? Awwww…How absolutely pitiful, really." Malfoy drawled loudly, his eyes gleaming at her in triumph.

Before she had managed to say anything to defend herself, Malfoy had stepped towards her again, rolling his copy of the Daily Prophet up in his hand and using it to whack Harry lightly on the cheek.

"That part about Diggory?" Malfoy's sneer hardened and his eyes flashed in disgust. "Why am I not surprised, Potter? First Weasley, now that pathetic Hufflepuff. You know absolutely _nothing _about choosing the right people to associate with." He mocked her, his eyes narrowed as he stared her down.

Her cheeks flushing, Harry's jaw dropped open in embarrassment and she rubbed at the spot on her cheek where his newspaper had lightly hit her. "I rejected _you_, Malfoy; I think my ability to tell which people are good to associate with is fine." She countered, pulling away from the Slytherin in impatience.

To her astonishment, Malfoy had grabbed her arm and yanked her closer so that their faces were only inches apart. Gaping and her heart pounding in nervousness, she struggled wildly against him.

"Malfoy, what do you think you're doing–"

"So it's true, then? You _are _dating that Hufflepuff?" He sneered, his eyes narrowing in disgust.

She flushed and stiffened at the strange tone she heard in his voice but she yanked herself free.

"That's absolutely _none _of your business! Now, if you'll excuse me–"

She was just about to walk away from him when Malfoy spoke again, drawing her attention.

"Why not try to win 'Daddy's' affection by chasing after his unfulfilled dream instead, Potter?"

Momentarily distracted by his sudden change of topic, Harry's eyebrows furrowed together in confusion and she glared impatiently at him. "Just what exactly are you talking about now, Malfoy?"

Malfoy's self-righteous grin widened and he straightened, walking over to her until their faces were inches apart again. "The tournament, Potter…The TriWizard tournament…You _do _know all about that right? Tsk tsk." He pretended to shake his head in mock disapproval. "What's the use of having the Minister of Magic as your father if you can't even appreciate the benefits that come with the position?"

Confused, Harry opened her mouth to cut him off but Malfoy continued. "It was even mentioned in Skeeter's article, Potter. Or were you just so wrapped up in Skeeter revealing your Daddy woes that you didn't notice? Are you honestly that self-centered?" He added in a scathing tone of voice.

Flushing at the implied insult in his words, Harry tried not to show her confusion as she shook her head and met his challenging gaze. To be honest, she had only a _vague _idea of what the TriWizard Tournament was about –not nearly enough to actually understand what Malfoy meant. Still, she raised an eyebrow and answered him – both teenagers unaware of the other blonde walking towards them.

"Dad tells me everything. I don't need information from Death Eater scum like you_. "_

The smirk on Malfoy's face instantly disappeared and his eyes glinted at her in icy contempt.

"Careful with that mouth, Potter…You don't to end up like your filthy mudblood mother–"

Harry lunged at him, her green eyes flashing dangerously and her hands going right for his neck.

"You _bastard!"_

Malfoy yelped, his eyes widening in fear at her reaction but just as he was about to step back from the irate Gryffindor, a large hand out of nowhere had clamped down hard on Harry's back – yanking on her shirt collar and pulling her away from the panicked blonde. Growling, Harry's eyes were narrowed as she whirled around, staring unwittingly at the tall, blonde man standing right behind her.

As soon as she recognized who it was, she froze in place.

"Miss Potter."

Lucius Malfoy sneered at her as he held her tightly by her collar, yanking her away from his son with an impatient growl. Wincing slightly, she stumbled backwards, grasping onto the walls for support.

Seeing this, the grimace on Draco's face was instantly replaced by a superior smirk.

"Hello Father."

With a trademark sneer identical to his son's in place, and his cane balanced lightly in his hand, the elder Malfoy arched an eyebrow elegantly at Harry and glared at the Gryffindor in obvious dislike.

"Miss Potter…Would you care to enlighten me as to why I just saw you about to attack my son?" He asked carefully, his voice so soft that it was almost a whisper – except that it was laced with warning.

Gulping at the dark tone of his voice, Harry tensed and reluctantly took a few steps backward.

"I don't really respond well to people talking badly about me or my family, Mister Malfoy." She responded coldly, her smile awkwardly polite when she heard the Malfoy patriarch's disbelieving scoff.

"Indeed…?"

Lucius' lips twisted in contempt but he seemed to hold himself back from speaking again as he glanced questioningly at Draco. The younger blonde rolled his eyes and flicked his gaze over at Harry.

"We were just catching up, Father." Draco drawled, smirking when he saw the way Harry was backing away from them. "In fact, I was just asking her how the Minister was." He added nonchalantly.

Lucius also noticed her uneasiness and he chuckled at her, one of his eyebrows raised in thought.

"How _is _your father these days, Miss Potter? Still on his cause to 'purge the Wizarding World of the Dark Arts' I gather?" He drawled mockingly, his smirk widening when he saw Harry's tense grimace.

"He's well as can be expected, Mister Malfoy. Now, if you'll excuse me–" She let out a gasp of shock when Lucius suddenly snagged her wrist with his cane and held her in place, his eyes narrowing.

"You _and _your father would do well to watch each other's backs, Miss Potter." His lips curled into a menacing sneer and he arched an eyebrow again, his gaze moving from Harry's panicked expression to the wizard approaching her from behind. "You don't want to be trusting the wrong sort of people. If you're not careful–" He ignored the way Harry winced in pain at the cane scraping her wrist.

"–your precious father could wind up losing so much more than his position as the Minister of Magic." Lucius' eyes had narrowed further as he said this and an unwelcoming sneer had forced on his face as he glared at the dark-cloaked figure who had just come up right behind Harry's struggling form.

"You alright there, Harry?"

Glancing up, Harry let out a deep sigh of relief when she saw her father's advisor, Peter Pettigrew, walking up to them, stopping just a few meters from where she was and giving her a concerned look. When he noticed Draco and Lucius, his frown deepened and he took out his wand.

"Is everything okay around here, Lucius? Or shall I have you escorted out now?" Peter's eyes flashed threateningly as he stepped towards them, making sure the two blondes saw the prestigious silver badge pinned to his robes. The badge indicated his advisory position to the Minister of Magic, and often gave Peter the authority he so-often abused to push all sorts of people around the Ministry.

Despite herself, Harry had to fight the urge to roll her eyes at Peter's obnoxious attitude.

_What a douche._

Apparently, however, as she realized this – Lucius seemed to be thinking the same thing. The Malfoy Patriarch suddenly smirked widely at Peter, his eyes mocking as they took in Peter's uniform.

"Why Pettigrew…How surprising. I almost didn't recognize you." Lucius commented casually, one of his eyebrows arched again as he met Peter's unwelcoming scowl. "Funny, isn't it…? How much a jealous, conniving, scheming little rat can get to the right places by associating himself with the _right _people at the _right _time…? Isn't that right, Peter?" Lucius drawled, smirking at the flush on Peter's face.

After a few seconds of him sputtering for something to say back, Peter finally managed to scrape together a scoff before rolling his eyes and attempting to pull Harry away from the taller man.

"If you're talking about yourself, Malfoy…I hardly think that you're in the right place at all. Frankly, if the Minister and Ihad a choice, you _and _your son would be safely locked away in Azkaban." He retorted, stiffening slightly when he saw that Lucius had just smirked at him again in response.

"I was just thinking the same thing about you, Pettigrew." He quipped with a cold smile.

To Harry's surprise, a muscle in Peter's cheek seemed to twitch and his face lost a bit of color.

"Get the hell out of here, Malfoy! Before I have you thrown out!" He suddenly screeched back.

Looking incredibly amused at Peter's reaction to them, the corner of Lucius' lips twitched upwards as he released Harry, turning slightly to share a look with his son. "That's not necessary, Pettigrew. In fact, Draco and I were just leaving." He drawled, turning back around to meet Harry's gaze.

"Good day to you, Miss Potter." He acknowledged softly, trailing his eyes up from her shaken expression to Peter's seething, angry growl. "And a pleasant day to you too, Pettigrew." He drawled sarcastically, watching as the small man's cheeks had reddened in annoyance as he glared back at him.

Ignoring his reaction, Lucius nodded once to Draco before walking towards the Ministry elevator. After watching his father for a few seconds, Draco then turned back to glance warningly Harry – who in that moment had already stepped back from him and was using Peter's large, round body as a shield.

"You should _really _choose the kind of company you keep, Potter. Didn't I warn you before?" Draco's gray eyes glinted strangely as he looked up and glared pointedly at Peter in utmost loathing.

Unsure of exactly what he meant, Harry ignored Peter's tugging on her arm and snapped back.

"And I thought I told _you _before, Malfoy…I don't _need _your help." She replied coolly.

To her surprise, Draco suddenly looked at her again, his eyes unusually soft as they met hers.

"Evidently, you do."

Before Harry even got the chance to say anything else, Draco broke the eye contact and turned around, walking into the elevator with his father and shutting the door. As soon as the two Malfoys had left and Harry realized that Peter was waiting for her, she whirled around and glared irritably at him.

"I didn't _need _your help back there, you know. I could have handled myself just fine." She snapped, scowling as Peter's expression changed from surprised and confused to annoyed and angry.

"Oh and _this _is the gratitude I get for saving you from 'Dark Potentials' like the Malfoys, young lady? I was just trying to help you, –" Peter broke off when Harry growled and lashed at him again.

"Don't call me 'Young Lady', you simpering rat! You're _not _my father!" She raged, shoving him away when he tried to grasp her by her arm. "Look…I don't need to take advice from you. I don't like you. And you don't like me either. Stop trying to pretend like you do." She added in a cold, blunt voice.

Peter snarled at her, his blazing glare glowing with anger as they pinned her in place.

"That family is nothing but trouble! Your father warned you not to hang around Dark Arts people like Lucius Malfoy – especially that son of his! We're only trying to protect you, Harry–"

"Protect me from what? They weren't likely to attack me right inside the Ministry of Magic's office, Peter! Get a hold of yourself!" Harry scoffed pointedly at him but Peter snapped at her in warning.

"I'm warning you. Stay _away _from that kid Draco Malfoy, Harry. He's dangerous and evil and–"

"I can handle myself just fine, Peter." Harry cut him coldly, already turning away.

Outraged, Peter's eyebrows fused and he opened his mouth to cut her off but Harry went on.

"Just go back to whatever it was you were doing to help my Dad and we'll be fine, alright? Now, if you'll excuse me." Harry didn't bother saying anything else as she pulled away from him and headed for the Ministry elevator, walking briskly around the small man as though he were an inanimate object.

Peter stared at her as she left, his eyebrows furrowed as he watched the young Gryffindor walk into the elevator and activate the button to shut the doors. As soon as she was gone, the confusion on Peter's face cleared and his expression hardened, his eyes glinting with a strange hint of malice.

"Be careful, you little brat…Be very, _very _careful."

* * *

Harry forced a smile as she stepped into the large dining room of the Potter Estate that morning – only to grimace a moment later when she was instantly met with her grandfather's disapproving glare.

"And just what exactly is _that _you're wearing, young lady?"

At sixty years old, her grandfather, Augustus Potter III, was a _very _intimidating sight to behold. Standing at more than six feet tall, with dark brown eyes and thick gray hair, the former Potter Patriarch peered down at Harry through his thick-framed glasses and gave her a stern, displeased scowl.

"You're not thinking about going out into public wearing that monstrosity are you?"

Harry sighed and tried not to scowl at him, fidgeting uncomfortably under his glare.

"It's a muggle t-shirt, Grandfather. Anyone else who's going to the Quidditch Cup is going to be wearing them. It was mandated by the Ministry of Magic." She told him, stiffening defensively when her grandfather stood up from where he was seated near their dining table and began to walk over to her.

Frowning, Augustus stopped just as he reached her and reached over to pick an imaginary piece of lint off Harry's shoulder. "I see…And which group of friends will you be going with to this event then?" He tried to ask nonchalantly; although Harry saw the anxious way he was frowning in anticipation.

Trying hard not to smile, Harry cleared her throat and answered him as calmly as she could.

"Ron, Neville, and Hermione."

The annoyance she saw on Augustus' face multiplied tenfold but he kept silent, his eyes glinting.

"I see."

Harry bit her lip to keep from smiling again, edging towards the dining table and plopping herself down onto the corner seat. She ignored her grandfather's exasperated glare at her a few seconds as she helped herself to a particularly tasty blueberry muffin, some bacon and a few pancakes.

"And I suppose you think I'm just going to let you walk out of here just like that? Do you even realize how dangerous–" Augustus broke off when Harry glanced back up at him again and grinned back.

"You don't have to worry about me, Grandfather. Dad's going to watch the Quidditch game with me anyway, he promised." Harry told him, much to Augustus' surprise as he stared at her in confusion. Fusing his eyebrows together, he took a quick look at his watch before glancing back at her with a frown.

"You did say that the game was…this afternoon, right?" Augustus asked uncertainly, watching as Harry suddenly looked up from her breakfast plate and stiffened, her fingers tightening around her fork.

"Yeah…Just before dinner." Her eyes narrowed and she had to set her fork down in anticipation.

"Why?"

Shaking his head, Augustus gave the young teenager a grim smile. "Your father left early this morning. He mentioned something about a Ministry employee of his who had gone missing for quite some time now and that they were going to investigate her house for any clues of her whereabouts." He explained slowly, already noting the way the excitement in Harry's eyes began to dim in disappointment.

After a long moment of awkward silence, Harry nodded slowly and managed a forced smile.

"Did he mention what time he'd be back then?" She asked, trying to look nonchalant as she studied the sympathetic expression on her grandfather's face. Frowning, the older Potter shook his head.

"I'm afraid your father won't be back until dinner tonight, darling. He _did _mention to me to tell you that you were to be careful during the match. And to go home before breakfast tomorrow." He told her, much to Harry's dismay as her eyes flashed and she sighed, looking away from him in frustration.

"It figures." She muttered under her breath, shaking her head before taking a sip of orange juice. Scowling, she glanced back up at Augustus. "Did my Dad even offer an apology?" She asked him bluntly.

To his credit, Augustus offered her somewhat of a rueful smile and slowly shook his head again.

"He had a lot of things on his mind, dearest." He offered, but Harry had already scoffed in disbelief.

Deliberately avoiding her grandfather's gaze so that he wouldn't see the pool of tears gathering in her eyes, Harry ignored the rest of her breakfast and stood back up, hastily yanking on her jacket.

"Well, if that's the case, Grandfather… Then I think I can go off to Ron's already. I won't have to wait for Dad anymore." Harry managed to rush out in a falsely cheerful tone that was betrayed by the slight trembling of her voice. When Augustus peered closely at her, she turned her face sharply away.

"I'll be back first thing tomorrow morning before breakfast. You know… Just in case Dad asks." She knew her grandfather heard the sarcasm in her voice but she didn't bother trying to correct it.

"Harry."

Stiffening in anticipation, Harry paused just as she was about to exit the large dining hall and turned around slowly – meeting her grandfather's stern but slightly apologetic look. She nodded in acknowledgment at him, waiting patiently as her grandfather seemed to struggle with what to say.

"If it helps…" Augustus sighed and raised his hand to massage his temples in exertion. "I do not believe that James chooses _not _to be with you on purpose. He is merely trying to protect you, dearest." He told her, watching as a whole whirlwind of emotions seemed to manifest itself in Harry's features.

Then, in a few seconds, the moment was gone and Harry then gave him an angry, defiant glare.

"If that's the case, then I'd rather be in danger, Grandfather."

Without waiting for him to respond, Harry stalked out of the dining room – heading straight for their floo-connected fireplace situated just below the stairs leading to their living room. After tossing in a handful of floo powder into the roaring fire, she stepped into the green flames and closed her eyes.

_ "THE BURROW!"_

She felt the familiar tug of the floo network instantly and after a few seconds, Harry opened her eyes – smiling slightly as she was met with the familiar warmth of the Weasley's cozy living room. Though she was surprised to see that none of the Weasleys were actually in the room to wait for her as they usually did, she took that time to compare their living room to the living room in Potter Estate.

Frankly, all Harry could mention about the living room back in her house was that it was hardly ever used at all – only for when her father had invited some of his important guests over or for when they were hosting a Ministry party. Otherwise, whenever Sirius, Remus or Tonks would come over to visit, Harry and James often just hung out with them in the kitchen – eating over the kitchen counter.

In contrast, though the Weasleys' living room was about a size smaller, Harry absolutely adored the way it always seemed to be radiating with warmth and welcome whenever she came over. There would always be that special sweater that Mrs. Weasley would be magically knitting by that plush green armchair by the corner – and the smell of freshly baked cookies would be wafting in from the kitchen.

It was, perhaps, the closest smell of '_home' _that Harry ever got to experience, and she enjoyed every single overnight visit she had with the Weasleys – to the point that Ron teased her about being an 'adopted member of the family'. Harry didn't mind this of course; it made her feel even more welcome.

Sighing and managing a small smile at this, Harry slowly drifted back from her thoughts and stepped out of the fireplace – searching around the room for a sign of any of the Weasley children.

"Hello? Anybody home?" Harry grinned when she noticed a freshly baked batch of cookies waiting for her by the living room coffee table. Grabbing one and taking a large bite, she called out again.

"Ron? Ginny? Mrs. Weasley?"

She heard a noise coming from the backyard of the house and began to head toward it, munching on her cookie as she went by. Just as she was stepping out from the sliding door leading to the Weasley's yard, however, she heard a loud voice shouting – which caused her to stiffen in alarm.

"PILE ON HARRY!"

Eyes wide, Harry had just enough time to whirl around and see a haze of four red blurs heading straight for her before she yelped as she was tackled to the grass – right at the very bottom of the pile.

"ARGH! What are you doing?! Get off me!" Harry could barely speak through their laughter as she wrestled with Ron, Fred, George, and Ginny all at once – all of whom had jumped right on her and pinned her to the ground. Still laughing, she managed to shove Ron away from her and he grinned as he jumped up, reaching down to help her stand. Taking his hand, Harry glowered at them as they stood up.

"Good morning, Harry! How are you?" Ginny greeted her with a cheeky grin, laughing when Harry just aimed a swipe at her and she narrowly ducked, taking a few steps backward to avoid being hit.

"I'm fine, other than the fact that I just broke my back. Thank you very much, you guys." Harry grumbled, pretending to glower at them but failing miserably when Fred and George both swooped down on her and wrapped their arms around her shoulders – sandwiching her right in between them.

"Harry, Harry, Harry! How are you this morning? It's so good to see you again! How's the Minister?" Fred intoned cheerfully – but before Harry could answer him, George had also chimed in. "Yeah, we hear he's been really busy nowadays. Always on the newspapers, I tell you." He added.

Harry opened her mouth to answer but she ended up smirking ruefully when Fred interrupted her again. "But not too busy to be on the dating scene is he?" He winked at her and pulled out a copy of the latest tabloid in his pocket. Whistling, he pointed to the picture of her dad on the cover – standing beside Hadriana Sloveckia, a Russian supermodel and the latest woman to be linked to James Potter.

"Now _that _is certainly one fine prize to be had, if I do say so myself. Are you sure your father's too busy to be with you because of work? Or because he's too busy spending time with _this_?" Fred joked, grinning at her when Harry just scowled at him and yanked the cheesy tabloid back from his hands.

Skimming through the contents of the article, the scowl on her face deepened even more and she glared back up at him. "Dad is _hardly _serious about this brainless walking toothpick, they just went out to dinner a few times. Nothing more to that." Harry told them, earning a teasing grin from George.

"Your father is officially my _idol, _Harry. Power tripping all day and doing nothing but sitting behind the big desk, running the show and dating supermodels. Ah, that is the life." He and Fred bumped their fists together in agreement to that, causing Harry to scowl again and Ginny to roll her eyes.

"Don't mind these two, Harry. They're just hyped up because they've had a crush on Hadriana Sloveckia since forever." She told her, and Ron added to this by scoffing and shaking his head. "Are you mad? Who _doesn't _have a crush on Hadriana?" He grinned widely and turned to Harry. "Ginny and Hermione have been arguing since last night that supermodels like Hadriana look very artificial–"

"And they _are, _Ronald! I'm sure Harry will agree with me." Another voice had spoken up irritably, and they all turned around to see Hermione walking out of the house with a large book tucked between her arms. As soon as Harry saw Hermione's miffed expression, she laughed and gave her a warm hug.

"Hermione, it's _way _too early for you to be arguing with Ron right now." She teased, causing the brown-haired girl to blush slightly but otherwise glare at Ron again in annoyance. Rolling his eyes, Ron just snorted and gave Harry and Ginny a cheeky grin. "Hermione argues with me about _everything, _Harry. So what else is new?" He nodded towards Fred and George, who were sniggering again and hiding behind a group of bushes near the front entrance of the house. "Ah…That should be Neville arriving."

Biting the inside of her cheek to keep from laughing, Harry hung back with Ron, Hermione and Ginny and let the scene unfold. Just as Neville had poked his head out of the house to look around, Fred and George had pounced on him – tackling him and calling loudly for Harry and the others to join them.

Amidst Neville's shrill protests, Harry burst out laughing as she and Ron jumped onto the top of the pile – much to Neville's dismay as he grunted his annoyance and began shoving them all off him. "Argh! You guys suck, you're not exactly light weight you know! Argh, get off me!" He protested wildly.

Rolling their eyes, Hermione and Ginny watched them with amused smiles. They turned to meet each other's pointed gaze before looking back at the other five teens and muttering at the same time.

"Boys will be boys."

"I heard that!" Harry drew back from the pile, indignantly pushing her hair away from her face.

Laughing, Hermione walked over to her and helped her back up on her feet, dusting the dirt off her robes. "Come on you guys, let's go back inside. Mr. Weasley should be arriving soon." She offered a hand to Neville as well and after he got up, he, Hermione, Harry and Ron all headed back into the house.

As they were entering the living room, however, Hermione had reached over and pulled Harry aside; causing the other girl to sigh as she was forced to meet her best friend's concerned brown eyes. Frowning pointedly at the black-haired Gryffindor, Hermione raised an eyebrow at her in question.

"Well…?"

Meeting Hermione's soft gaze, the smile on Harry's face faded and she looked away quickly before Hermione could notice the sudden brightness in her eyes. When it didn't seem as though Hermione would let up on her question, however, Harry shook her head, and shrugged helplessly.

"He's not coming."

Without looking up, she heard Hermione's soft, sympathetic sigh of disappointment before she was enveloped in the other girl's tight, comforting hug – which, truthfully, made Harry feel even worse.

"Oh Harry…Sweetie, I'm sorry…" She hesitated before saying anything else, tightening her arms around the smaller Gryffindor and gently caressing her mane of long black hair. "We'll try again, okay? I'm sure that your father really wanted to go with you this time. Maybe he really _was _just too busy?" Hermione offered her a small smile of encouragement but Harry couldn't bring herself to believe her.

Nevertheless, she looked up and managed to reward Hermione with a very grim smile.

"Or…Maybe Malfoy was right."

When Hermione looked confused at her statement, Harry just looked away.

"Maybe my Dad really _doesn't _give a shit about me."

Without waiting for Hermione to respond, Harry quickly extracted herself from her arms and rushed back inside the house after Ron and Neville.

* * *

"What are we looking at here, Moony?"

Remus Lupin nearly jumped at the sound of James' voice from behind, and he whirled around, coming face to face with the young Minister of Magic himself. Frowning and casting a brief glance over his wristwatch, Remus turned around and rewarded his best friend with a skeptical look of disapproval.

"Aren't you supposed to be getting ready to watch the Quidditch Cup with Harry, James?" He asked, watching as his best friends' eyebrows furrowed and he sighed heavily, walking way from him. Without looking up, James busied himself with searching around the abandoned house around them and talking to some of the Ministry Aurors who were already collecting evidence or clues from the area.

When Remus continued to glare at him, however, he finally relented and let out an exasperated sigh. "I _was _going to go_, _but then I heard about this case with Bertha Jorkins mysteriously disappearing for more than two weeks now. And I had to investigate. I mean, we _know _Bertha back from school. What do you suppose could have happened to her–" He was cut off when Remus sighed and shook his head.

"Prongs, don't change the subject." He set down the photograph he held in his hand back on Bertha's coffee table before walking over to James. "Harry was _really _looking forward to spending time with you today. She was telling me all about how excited she was. I can't believe you let her down." Remus admonished him lightly, earning another glare from James as he scowled and looked away.

"I _know _that, Remus. But what can I do, I was needed _here–"_

"You know as well as I do that you weren't. I specifically _wrote _to you to tell you that we'd be fine investing Bertha's house on our own. Bloody hell, James, this isn't even a dangerous mission, we were just sent here to look for any clues hinting on her disappearance." Remus gave a frustrated sigh and ran a hand through his hair. "Besides, knowing Bertha back from school, she probably just got lost and forgot the way back again." He kidded lightly but James just shook his head at him and frowned.

"That doesn't mean we should still take her disappearance lightly. Especially with so many muggles being killed nowadays for absolutely no reason. Something doesn't seem right." He said out loud – more to himself than to Remus. Still frowning, he walked over to Bertha's cluttered work desk.

Folding his arms over his chest, Remus shook his head and watched him cautiously.

"How did you even know where Bertha's house was, James? I didn't even tell you." Remus asked suspiciously, watching as James flinched at this and glanced back at him with a slightly rueful smirk.

"Well, originally I _had _planned on spending the day with Harry today. But then, Peter showed up and when I asked him about this case, he mentioned that you were investigating Bertha's house. That's was when I asked him the address." James would have continued but Remus suddenly cut him off.

"I should have known. Peter keeps wasting your time, sending you to these assignments–"

For his part, James looked up from the drawers he was searching and shook his head. "Actually, to tell you the truth, this time Peter seemed particularly _keen _to have me spend time with Harry. He agrees with you in saying that Bertha probably just got herself lost on the way back from a vacation." James scoffed and let out a humorless laugh. "Now if only we could just find out where the chit went."

Still frowning, however, Remus relented and walked over to where James was searching through a new set of drawers by the corner of the living room. "Well, it's your call I guess. I'm just saying that I think you're neglecting your daughter, Prongs. Harry is such a wonderful kid, Nymphadora and I enjoy having her over all the time." Remus mentioned lightly, causing James to chuckle and shake his head.

"You say that _now, _Remus. But that was after all of the evil escapades she put me and Sirius through raising her." His eyes softened as he thought about his daughter. "I swear, that girl was the most evil baby on the planet." James mused, shaking his head as he recalled all of those sleepless nights he had when Harry was still a baby. He and Sirius were absolutely no match against his little prongslet.

Remus laughed at the memory as well and shrugged at him in response. "Well, I suppose she just got that from her father." He kidded, before he knelt down and began tugging on the bottom drawer of the work table. "Why don't you try and make it up to her by still trying to make it later? At least until the last half of the game. I think the game won't be starting until six anyway." He suggested.

Frowning, James sighed and shook his head in response. "No, I can't do that. I promised Hadriana that I'd have dinner with her at nine, I doubt I'd make it in time." He chose to ignore the disapproving scowl on Remus' face again and stood up, walking over to one of the kitchen counters.

Snorting in disbelief, Remus shook his head and made a face. "You _do _know that I despise that woman completely, right James?" He mentioned but James just smirked at him and offered him a shrug. "That makes three now. You, Sirius _and _Harry." He chuckled again and offered him a grin. "Peter seems to like her for me though; he mentioned that the public is keen with her. So let's see where it goes."

Remus made a face again and stood up, walking over to take the evidence bag one of the Aurors behind them were offering him. "Maybe, but I just don't understand the attraction, James. I mean, sure, she's beautiful. But she's vile, self-centered and vicious. She doesn't compare to a strand on Lily's hea–"

"Drop it."

Sensing at once that he had gone too far, Remus cut himself off immediately and glanced at the taller man. He noted that James' jaw had tightened and the humor in his eyes had vanished, replaced by a cold guardedness that Remus knew all too well. Sighing in defeat, Remus retreated and spoke again.

"Shall I take these samples down to the office then, Minister?" He asked formally, watching as James seemed to appreciate the diversion of his attention as he glanced back at Remus and nodded.

"Yes, if you don't mind."

Remus excused himself slowly, weaving his way through the remaining Aurors scattered around the house and exiting through the floo network in the fireplace. Once he was gone, James allowed himself to glance at the direction his friend had come from, his bland expression heavy with exhaustion.

He knew that both Sirius and Remus were only looking out for him and Harry – just as they've always done ever since Lily had died – but often times, James found their concern tiresome. His best friends were the only ones who actually _knew _who James was before that night in Godric's Hollow and those times when they would bring up how much he had changed since then bothered him immensely.

It was, perhaps, the only thing that James would ever admit to himself – but he _knew _that he had become a cynical bastard. To be honest, being who he was now was the only reason that allowed him to carry on with his life and forget about the pain of losing the woman he loved more than anything.

The night that Lily was murdered was the single most horrifying memory in James' life.

And he could still remember every second of what happened as though it were just yesterday.

Back then, James had already known that Voldemort had been after them after hearing about the prophecy – how a child born of the seventh month would be the only one capable of killing him. The instant James heard about the prophecy, he was _terrified _– because he knew that evil bastard would be going after his daughter and he couldn't let that happen. He sought help from Albus Dumbledore immediately, asking the older Wizard if he could arrange for him and Lily to be protected under his care.

Dumbledore agreed to cast the _Fidelius Charm _on his and Lily's home in Godric's Hollow, and told James to select a friend – that one person he could entrust with his family's life – to be their Secret Keeper. Naturally, James had initially chosen Sirius to be his Secret Keeper but then he realized that Voldemort would have handpicked Sirius easily, so they chose Peter as their secret keeper instead.

That night, however, Peter had come running to them in the middle of the night – telling them that Voldemort had learned that he was the Secret Keeper. To protect them, he had fled and transferred the secret to Lily's muggle family instead. The minute she heard this, Lily was frantic and insisted that James floo over to them and remove them of the burden before the Death Eaters found out. James agreed, though not before learning that the Death Eaters were already on their way to Lily's family.

James rushed over to that muggle neighborhood immediately, but that had proven to be the one mistake he would regret for the rest of his life. By the time he got there, Lily's parents were already dead and he saw that along with them, Lily's sister Petunia and her husband had also been murdered.

From how he remembered the gruesome scene, James knew that Lily's parents had died first. Their bodies were bound to the floor and laden with symptoms that could have only come from the effects of the Cruciatus curse. Beside them, however, James noted that Petunia and Vernon Dursley's deaths were not nearly as gruesome and that they were not strapped down like Lily's parents were.

And then it had all come crashing down on him.

Lily's parents may not have betrayed Lily by giving Voldemort the secret, but James could not exactly say the same about Petunia's loyalty to her sister. In fact, if anything, James would have been certain that Petunia would have given the Death Eaters her sister's own life if it meant saving her own.

Panicked, James fled back home immediately – but it was much too late.

Lily had already been murdered and nothing could have prepared James for the sight of walking into his home and seeing the lifeless body of his beautiful wife sprawled on the floor of Harriet's nursery room. Her gleaming red hair was strewn all over the place, caked with blood, and clutched in her hand was the gleaming silver heart-shaped locket that held hers and Harry's picture the day Harry was born.

James had never known that he was capable of crying so much, but he fell to his knees that night and wept – his cries intermingling with the Harry's from she was left alone in her baby cradle.

The Dark Lord had disappeared forever – but the price had cost James the only woman he loved.

He was never the same man since.

"Minister…?"

Blinking rapidly to clear his head of his thoughts, James turned around to meet the anxious face of one of his youngest employees – Percy Weasley – and nodded to acknowledge him. "Yes, Weasley?"

James had to hold back his annoyance when Percy stared at him for a few awestruck seconds, but soon the young wizard recovered himself and handed him a slip of paper. "Pettigrew just owled. He says you're needed back in the office right away. You have a meeting scheduled with Barty Crouch, Sr." He told him, immediately causing James to flinch in realization and hastily check his watch in surprise.

"That completely skipped my mind. Alright, alright, I'm on my way." He didn't bother waiting for Percy to respond as he adjusted his robes and gathered his things, heading toward the exit of the house.

"The rest of you, keep searching! I want to find out_ where _Bertha went off to when I get back!"

* * *

Harriet grinned widely, enjoying the familiar rush of exhilaration breezing through her as she, Ron, Hermione and Neville cheered loudly from where they were seated up in the Top Box for the Quidditch game that evening. Behind them, the rest of the Weasleys were also cheering loudly and were decked out in their commemorative bright green outfits – in full support of the Ireland Quidditch Team.

"And on behalf of the Minister of Magic, I'd just like to welcome you all to the Annual Quidditch World Cup!" Peter Pettigrew announced loudly from one of the top stands in the golden stadium that night. As the crowds of Quidditch fans below him cheered their acknowledgment, he grinned and waved cheerfully at them before resuming his seat – right in the Minister of Magic's place in the top stands.

"Bloody hell. I wish your Dad could have been here instead. I hate that smarmy git with a passion." Neville whispered derisively to Harry as they watched Peter Pettigrew chatting casually and laughing with the Minister of Magic from Ireland and Bulgaria, both of which were seated beside him.

Chuckling at the genuine dislike she heard in Neville's voice, Harry offered him a weak grin.

"You and me both, Nev. I hate him even more for getting to watch the game while my Dad is working." She muttered back to the other Gryffindor, surveying the crowds below them in mild interest.

Fortunately, one of the benefits that she _and _Ron both had as being children of Ministry officials was that they were able to secure their seats right in the best place in the stadium – the Top Box – just beside all the other VIPs who were invited to watch the game. Seated around them, Harry could make out several more familiar faces of her father's top officials – all of which had nodded at her in greeting.

To her left, Ron suddenly caught her attention by nudging her sharply and pointing to the Bulgarian Quidditch players who were beginning to line up in the Quidditch pitch. "Merlin's beard, Harry, look! It's Viktor Krum! One of the best seekers in the world! Would you look at that? He's right there!" Ron had practically screeched out in his excitement, causing Hermione, Neville and Harry to laugh at him.

"Aw, well aren't you like a fanboy with a crush, Ron?" Ginny teased behind them, earning herself a glare from her brother as he turned back around and childishly stuck his tongue out at her.

"Shut up!"

While Neville and Harry laughed again, Hermione just made a face and crossed her arms over her chest. "Well, _I _certainly don't see what the big deal is, Ron. I mean, sure Viktor Krum is talented but to be honest, he's just about as talented as _Harry _is over here. Nothing to get all worked up over." She told them and at this, Harry's smile widened and she reached over and hugged her best friend in return.

"You _are _my best friend, Hermione." She commented impishly but Neville just made a face and pretended to give Harry a mocking glance. "You can't seriously be comparing our Harry to Viktor Krum, Hermione. I mean, no offense Harry–" He added quickly when Harry had turned to scowl lightly at him.

"–but Viktor Krum is more than a 'talented Quidditch player'. He's an _artist! _He's–"

"A _god!_" Ron supplied with a grin, causing Harry to laugh and Hermione to scoff at him.

She would have said more to that, but then they heard Ludo Bagman's voice announcing the official start the Quidditch match, which then diverted Ron, Harry and Neville's attention immediately.

The game had started off easy enough, and using her binoculars, Harry watched as one by one, Ludo Bagman introduced the players of Bulgaria and Ireland to the cheering crowd of fans. Once all the players had been introduced and the whistle to begin the game was sounded off, the match began immediately – and all of the Quidditch players began zooming around the field on their sleek Firebolts.

Eventually, as the game continued to progress, Ireland began to lead the match over Bulgaria by a few points, and the Irish side of the large golden stadium was screaming loudly with their support.

"Did you _see _that save?! I thought it was going through! Bloody hell, that was _brilliant!_" Ron and Harry shot each other a grin and high five before they peered through their binoculars again, watching as Ireland's keeper tossed the Quaffle back to one of their Chasers and the game commenced again.

Just as she was in caught up immensely in watching Viktor Krum going for a graceful dive towards the center of the Quidditch pitch, however, a light tap on Harry's shoulder caused her to jump slightly in surprise. Whirling around, she couldn't help the friendly smile that suddenly lit up her features when she found herself face-to –face with the tall smiling boy who was standing right behind her.

"Cedric! What are you doing here?" She exclaimed with a laugh as she and the Hufflepuff exchanged a brief hug, drawing the attention of the other spectators seated around the Top Box. Unaware of this, Cedric laughed at her surprise and shook his head, rewarding her with his friendly grin.

"Watching Quidditch, of course! You know I wouldn't miss this match for the world, Harry. What about you? Who are you watching with, is Uncle James with you?" He asked, his eyes curiously skimming around the area for a sign of Harriet's father but she shook her head slightly and answered.

"Nah, he couldn't make it tonight, Ced. But he would have been happy to see you though, he's been asking about how you were. How's Uncle Amos, then? Is he doing well?" Harry asked with a smile.

Cedric had opened his mouth to answer her but even before he got the chance, another voice had spoken up behind him to answer her. Both of them looked up at the person who was approaching.

"I'm perfectly fine, Harriet. How sweet of you for asking." Amos Diggory told her, rewarding the Gryffindor with a warm smile just as he had stopped to stand behind his son. Placing a hand proudly on Cedric's shoulder, Amos peered down at Harry and couldn't resist giving his tall son a knowing wink.

"I should have known that the minute I lost you in the crowd, you would have gone straight for Harriet over here." He teased, causing Cedric to flush bright pink and glare warningly at his smirking dad. eHe

"Dad!" He hissed, elbowing the man lightly and causing Amos to laugh at his reaction.

"Well, it's the _truth, _you know. Cedric here talks about you all the time, Harry. You wouldn't believe how much I've heard about you these past months." Amos saw the miserably embarrassed look on his son's face and finally relented, chuckling as he began to back away. "In any case, I think I'll leave you two now to talk before I embarrass my son further. It was nice seeing you again, Harriet. Please send my regards to James; I'll meet with him soon." He told her, to which Harry nodded in response.

"Will do, Uncle Amos." She forced a smile again as he left, leaving Harry and Cedric staring awkwardly at each other. Ignoring the way Hermione was nudging her side teasingly from behind, Harry cleared her throat loudly and looked up, meeting Cedric's embarrassed look with a comforting grin.

"Ah don't worry about it, Ced. You know how much your father has wanted to set us up since we were children, his teasing is nothing new." She kidded, causing the slight tension in Cedric's shoulders to loosen as he smiled at her in obvious relief. "Yeah, tell me about it. It's really getting embarrassing. I'm very sorry if he's been getting out of hand as of late. It's even reached the Daily Prophet." He mused, causing both of them to wince as they recalled the article written by Rita Skeeter.

Forcing a laugh, Harry waved the incident away and gave him another reassuring smile.

"Like I said, don't worry about it. Our fathers have been working together since forever, those rumors are expected. We're just going to have to keep correcting the rumors every now and then." She told him, but to her surprise, Cedric just stared thoughtfully at her, and a curious smile lit up his face.

"Cedric?"

Harry fused her eyebrows together in confusion at his expression.

"Is everything okay?"

As though blinking out of his thoughts, Cedric suddenly flushed again as he glanced back up and met her confused look with an apologetic smile. "Yeah, sure, we'd just have to keep correcting those rumors, huh? A–anyway, I'd better go, Harry. I think my Dad is signaling for me to get back. So, I guess I'll see you in school?" He leaned over and pulled her into a hug again before Harry got a chance to react.

"Er, yeah…I guess so. See you, Ced!" Harry managed to give him a slightly confused smile before he left, heading back to where he was seated next to his father by the corner of the Top Box. As soon as he was gone, Hermione had nudged her sharply again and had yanked her back down into her seat.

Rubbing at the slight pain in her ribs from where Hermione had kept poking her, Harry glowered.

"Hermione, what is it?!"

To her further annoyance, Hermione just raised an eyebrow and smirked pointedly at her.

"I refuse to believe that you _really _are that dense, Harry."

When Harry continued to look at her as though she had grown two heads, Hermione let out a sigh of exasperation and gestured discreetly to where Cedric and his father were seated. "Harry, you _do _realize that Cedric likes you, don't you?" She pointed out bluntly, causing Harry to sputter in disbelief.

"Wh–what are you talking about? He does _not–"_

Though he was still watching the game beside Hermione, Neville let out a snort of disbelief.

"If Diggory was any _more _obvious with his attentions, Harry, he might as well have Rita Skeeter publish his undying love for you. Merlin, how could you _not _notice the poor guy's intentions?" He added in agreement, to which Harry responded to by blushing darker and pointedly turning back to the game.

"I am _not _having this discussion with you guys right now." She mumbled under her breath, but to add more to her dismay, Ron chimed in further by scoffing angrily and turning around to glare at her.

"Don't you _dare _date a Hufflepuff, Harry! Especially a prissy little pretty boy like Cedric Diggory! Dean, Seamus and I despise him! He walks around the bloody school like he's such a perfect angel–"

"Cedric is a gentleman! He also happens to be one of the sweetest guys in Hogwarts, Ron–" Ginny tried to argue in from where she was seated nearby but Ron glared at her and cut her off insanity.

"He is _not, _he's a bloody menace! You deserve better, Harry, you should stay away from him–"

Groaning and hiding her thoroughly red face miserably in her hands in the middle of her friends' arguing, Harry got up from her seat and began to weave her way through the aisle towards the exit.

"Cedric is _so _a gentleman, Ron! You're just jealous that a lot of girls like _him _and not _you!"_

"That is _so _not true, Ginny! I'm your brother, how could you say that to me?!"

"Ron, Ginny's right you know. Cedric _is _a pretty nice guy and he might be good for Harry."

"You have to admit…Diggory _is _kind of an arrogant git though, Hermione."

"I can't believe you're siding with Ron, Neville! I thought you respected Cedric?"

"Well, I _do…_a _bit…._But he _does _get a little cocky from time to time–"

"If anyone cares, I'm just going to get some more popcorn–" Harry mumbled under her breath, but none of her friends seemed to have noticed as they continued to argue loudly amongst themselves.

Shaking her head at her friends' antics, Harry quickly excused herself from the rest of the Weasleys and began to head towards the Top Box exit, pausing just as she reached the stairs leading down towards the snack stands. Just as she was about to step down, however, she gasped as the sole of her left shoe scraped along the first step, causing the Gryffindor to trip instantly and come crashing down the flight of stairs. In panic, Harry let out a meep and grabbed at the nearest person who had been on his way up to the Top Box, nearly causing him to stumble as he managed to catch her in his arms.

_Oh great…Nice going, you clumsy imbecile. Couldn't you have been more careful?! _Harry scolded herself miserably, her cheeks already flushing with embarrassment. Shaking her head, she steadied herself again and forced her gaze up to meet the surprised, mercury gray eyes of her unwilling savior.

Unfortunately, the moment she realized who it was, she nearly stumbled over again.

"…Malfoy…?"

Draco Malfoy stared back at her with wide eyes, their faces mere _inches _apart.

"Potter."

Blushing hotly, Harry found herself at a loss for words she met the equally embarrassed stare of the blonde Slytherin in front of her – who at that moment seemed to be sharing her predicament as he struggled for something to say. Slowly, it dawned on the two rivals the full awkwardness of the strangely intimate position they found themselves in – with Draco's hands around her waist and her arms wrapped around his neck – and they broke apart immediately, their cheeks flaming with realization.

"Wh–what are you–" Harry sputtered indignantly for a few seconds, her cheeks turning almost as red as the Gryffindor scarf she was wearing. "I–I mean, I'm sorry. I didn't see you, I tripped and–"

To her surprise, Draco was blushing just as much as she was as he gave her an answering glare.

"Watch where you're going, Potter! You could have barreled me over!" He managed to stammer, his cheeks still red as he pulled himself further away from her and shoved his hands into his pockets.

"Yeah, well you didn't have to catch me." Harry grumbled back, unable to say anything else.

They stared awkwardly at each other for a few more seconds again, both teens shuffling their feet uncomfortably and trying to hide the flaming redness of their cheeks. Finally, when Harry managed to gain a semblance of control over her embarrassment, she cleared her throat and spoke up again.

"W–well…Thanks for…Whatever. Catching me…I guess. See you in school, Malfoy."

Not wanting to see his reaction, Harry was already walking around him to leave but to her surprise, Draco had called out to her, and the sudden lightness of his voice caused her to freeze in place.

"Harry."

Thoroughly amazed at having heard him call her by her first name, Harry turned around slowly, blinking back at him in question. Draco hesitated for a few seconds, but eventually he spoke up softly.

"You look…_different._"

She gaped at him in shocked confusion, her eyes growing as wide as a pair of Quidditch Quaffles.

"…Excuse me?"

Clearing his throat, Draco hesitated again but he managed to look up and meet her eyes.

"I meant…Your hair is down." He gestured briefly to her long black hair.

At this, Harry's eyebrows arched up further and she glared back at him in mild annoyance.

"Er…yeah…so?" She asked him irritably, her eyes already narrowing in anticipation. Knowing the Slytherin, Harry was already bracing herself for the witty insult that she was sure was going to follow.

Thus, she was thoroughly astonished when, instead of insulting her as she originally anticipated, Draco had shoved his hands into his pockets again and offered her a small, boyishly embarrassed smile.

"It suits you."

To her utter dismay, Harry felt her cheeks flushing darker at his rather unexpected compliment. It didn't help the situation that Draco was looking just as taken back with his own comment as Harry was. In fact, the Slytherin's eyes had widened as he stared at her, obviously in shock over his own words.

They stared at each other for another awkward round of minutes– both of them unsure of how to react to Draco's last comment. Fortunately, the moment was effectively broken when a loud, high-pitched voice had suddenly called out from the Top Box, breaking their intense staring contest instantly.

"Draco, hurry up! You're going to miss the rest of the match!"

Following the source of the voice, Harry caught a glimpse of Draco's girlfriend, Pansy Parkinson, who was fully decked out in a glamorous frilly dress, waiting impatiently for Draco up in the Top Box. Shaking her head and suddenly pulling herself further away from the blonde Slytherin, Harry was relieved when she saw the way Draco finally seemed to have snapped back to his senses. Clearing his throat loudly, he stepped away from her and rewarded her with his familiar sneer of disdain.

"Out of my way, Pothead!" He hissed, a light blush still lingering on his pale cheeks.

More than relieved to be rid of the awkwardness they had just shared, Harry quickly obliged.

"Go on and scurry back to your girlfriend, Malfoy."

Shooting her one last dirty glare, Draco didn't answer and stomped back up the stairs, heading back to where he was seated with his parents up in the Top Box. Harry watched him go for a few seconds, her features still creased in confusion over what had just transpired between them. Then, shaking her head, she finally let out a relieved sigh and began to head down towards the popcorn stands.

* * *

**A/N: **Aww… Now isn't young love just the sweetest thing in the world? (^_^) A very pleasant and warm thank you to everyone who's read, reviewed, and faved this story thus far. Your support and encouragement mean the world to me, thank you so much! I really like the way this story is moving itself right now, and I'm very excited to see where my muse will take me in the next few chapters. :D

**Next Chapter: **James and Augustus decide that a change is definitely in order for Harry. :D

Do share your thoughts, love and comments by sending me a review, sweeties! Till next time, cheers!


	3. Love, Lies, and Politics

**Harriet Potter and the Minister of Magic **

**Disclaimer:** I don't own Harry Potter or any of the characters you recognize from the HP books in this story. All I own is the plot. Everything else belongs to JK Rowling.

**Pairings**: DM/femHP (eventual). CD/femHP. RW/HG. BZ/GW. JP/LP (past). SS/LP (one-sided).

**Warnings:** Spoilers from canon (Books 4 to 7). Occasional time jumps from chapter to chapter. Mature content later on.

**Notes: **Just to avoid any confusion, if any of you noticed that some parts of the chapter seem to be jumping or fast-forwarding through a lot of events, yes I'm doing this on purpose. Basically, I'll be skipping through trivial portions of Books 4 and 5 – the events that probably didn't change much from canon. It'll probably continue for a few more chapters until we reach Harry's sixth year – by then, the story will slow down and we'll get to see more interactions. Anyway, without further ado, enjoy the chapter! :D

* * *

**Chapter 3 – Love, Lies, and Politics**

News about the Death Eater attack that had happened after the Quidditch World Cup soon spread through the Wizarding World like a virus. Harry had never seen her father more agitated than he had been during the last few days. With the added stress of coordinating with the Ministry's communication office to deal with all the negative publicity, as well as exhausting himself by lecturing Harry about the stupidity of what she did, James was literally on the verge of a nervous breakdown.

Wincing as she reflected back on the events that had happened that night, Harry remembered the way her father had practically stormed right into the Weasley's tent in a state of frenzied panic. His hair had been more disheveled than usual; his Ministry robes in complete disarray, and his ears were just about steaming with rage as a dozen different combinations of profanity spilled from his mouth.

Without so much as saying a word to Arthur Weasley – who at the time was apologizing profusely to the Minister for having lost sight of Harry during the Death Eater attack – James had grabbed his daughter by her arm and hauled her out of there. Thankfully, he only exploded at her once they had gotten home and it was only after sitting through an entire hour of James hyperventilating with fury that Harry got the chance to speak. Her eyes bright with humiliated tears, she managed to explain to him what had happened – why she had gone after the suspicious man who had cast the Dark Mark.

"I was only trying to help, Dad! Those Death Eaters were everywhere, but _none _of them cast that Dark Mark! It was that man who was left behind at the camp site! I swear to Merlin I saw him—"

"That is _enough _from you!" He had growled warningly at her, his eyes glinting with anger.

Flushing in indignation, Harry had opened her mouth to speak up again.

"But Dad, I swear it's the truth! If you had _just _been there, you would have seen that—"

"I said that is _enough!_" James had slammed his fist down onto the table, causing her to flinch.

"I can _not _believe how utterly reckless and irresponsible you were, Harry!" He cut her off again, shaking his head furiously in disbelief. "Those Death Eaters were _everywhere! _If they had _seen _you…If just _one _of them happened to have been at the right place at the right time, you would have—they would have—" James broke off and let out a frustrated growl, running a hand furiously through his hair.

"Well, let's just say that they would have been _ecstatic _at the opportunity to capture and murder the daughter of the one man who was responsible for sending their lot to Azkaban!" He raged.

Wincing at the furious tone of his voice, Harry felt her eyes stinging with tears again but she refused to let them fall. "I'm _fine, _Dad! I'm _here, _see?! I'm fine! I know how to take care of myself—"

"Don't start that! You are a _child, _Harry! An immature, foolish_, _insensitive child! First that incident with the Sorcerer's Stone, then that Chamber of Secrets, and now _this! _How do you expect me to ever trust you again with all of the stupid stunts you pull?!" James snapped at her, his eyes flashing.

Trembling at the force of her father's enraged shouts, Harry swallowed the dry lump that had formed in her throat and dropped her eyes to her lap. "I—I…I'm sorry, Dad…I just wanted to help—"

"Help?!" James glared incredulously at her. "Harry, how do you think your mother would feel if she knew all the stuff you were doing?! Gambling your life – the one thing she sacrificed herself for – is a pretty stupid and _selfish _way to repay her!" James shook with fury as he buried his face into his hands.

As soon as her father had mentioned her mother, Harry could no longer prevent the onslaught of tears that began to roll down her cheeks. Biting her lip, she bowed her head quickly, not wanting him to see her crying. The heavy silence that soon followed between them was deafening, and Harry tried to ignore the way her eyes were rapidly filling up with tears that were threatening to spill down her cheeks.

To her immense relief, Sirius had chosen that exact moment to peak his head into the room. After a quiet, hesitant look at both James and Harry's deathly silent figures, he stepped uncertainly into the large office, cleared his throat loudly and placed a couple of photos carefully on James' table.

Pointedly pretending not to notice the way Harry's shoulders were shaking with quiet, suppressed sobs, Sirius had then reassured the Minister that there were no reported casualties during the Death Eater attack, and that everyone who had attended the Quidditch cup were safely back home. Sagging with relief, James had nodded at him and then turned to snap at his daughter with a glare again.

"Go to your room, Harry!"

Still flushed with the humiliation that James had forced her to endure in front of everyone that night, Harry had retreated immediately; ignoring the sympathetic look Sirius had given her as she pushed past him. On her way up, she ran into her grandfather as well but when it looked as though Augustus was on the verge of giving her his own lecture, Harry quickly ducked her head and ran past him.

She barely made it to her room when the tears gathered in her eyes had begun to cascade down her cheeks. Angry with her father and more than furious with herself for having let him affect her like that, Harry had chosen to spend the remainder of her summer locked in her room since that night.

The only other times that she allowed herself to go out and walk around the house were those times that she was sure her father and her grandfather were both away. Otherwise, Harry spent the rest of her summer writing and trading letters with her friends, whom she had apologized to for having been forced to leave the Quidditch Cup without a word. Occasionally, Sirius and Remus would also come over to visit her. They tried to convince her to talk to her father but Harry kept blatantly refusing to listen.

To make matters even worse, after hearing about the events of the Quidditch World Cup, the Wizarding tabloids seemed to have taken a newfound interest in writing about Harry again – particularly about how she was growing up to be an irresponsible, attention-seeking brat and how the Minister of Magic was such an inconsiderate and horrible father that he allowed his daughter to behave that way.

The comments targeted towards James weren't exactly sugar-coated either. In fact, Rita Skeeter was particularly vicious in writing about how James Potter was an ignorant 'cad' of a father who couldn't even afford his child enough attention to make sure that she grew up into a 'proper lady'. With that, the tabloids went on with posting dozens of unflattering pictures that depicted Harry as a grungy, boyish teenage girl who did nothing but get into fights all day, get detention and cause all sorts of trouble.

Some of the tabloids had even gone as far as to publicly suggest to the Minister and his cabinet that they should consider shipping Harry off to an exclusive boarding school for girls to 'correct' her behavior, and it was _this _particular criticism against her character that had irked Harry above all else.

_We've just witnessed a __Death Eater __attack for Merlin's sake, and still all these stupid reporters want to talk about nowadays is how much of bad daughter I am and how my Dad is an ignorant parent?! _Harry gritted her teeth in annoyance and snuggled back into her bed, burying herself under her blankets.

It was _infuriating._

Sighing, she lifted her head out from underneath her blankets again and reached for the letter on her nightstand, unfolding the parchment and holding it up to the light. Frowning, she read through her godfather's scrawl again, her eyebrows fusing together in resentment as she pondered on his words.

_Hey Little Prongs, _

_How are you holding up? _

_Look, I know you're not exactly too keen on your idiotic father right now, and frankly, I can understand why. James is under a lot of stress this week – juggling the unsolved muggle murders going around the country and handling all the preparations needed for the TriWizard Tournament this year. _

_He hasn't been himself lately, and I suppose it's just up to you, me, and Moony to be patient with him until everything calms down. You may not realize it, Harry, but your father loves you very much. He has a very strange way of showing it, but I've known James for years. You're probably the only thing in his life right now that's keeping him sane, and I hope that someday, you realize that and forgive him._

_I'm really sorry I couldn't accompany you to Diagon Alley this week. I've just been assigned by your Dad to head another investigation in Albania, but I promise you that we'll talk more again as soon as I get back. Until then, just try to get along with your Dad, Harry. You're both acting like idiots. _

_Love, _

_Sirius_

Scowling, Harry set the letter back down onto the bed and sank back down against her blankets. She stared up into the ceiling of her room for a few minutes, her eyebrows fused together in thought. Then, with a heavy sigh, she turned over onto her side and rested her head against her pillow.

_If I'm an idiot, then Dad is an even bigger idiot than I am. _She thought stubbornly to herself. _He won't even listen to me! I was only trying to help him, he didn't have to throw a fit about it! _She fumed.

She was just on the verge of closing her eyes and forcing herself to sleep again when a loud, impatient knock suddenly sounded on her door, causing the Gryffindor to jerk awake and look up.

"Come in." She replied hesitantly, holding back a sigh when her grandfather entered the room. Trying her best not to sound or appear unwelcoming, she looked up and offered him a forced smile.

"Grandfather, what–" Before she even got to finish her sentence, another figure had walked into her bedroom after her grandfather – a tall, slender woman with straight brown hair, very arched eyebrows and large, smoky brown eyes. Stopping just as she reached the part of the room in front of Harry's bed, she peered down at her and Harry noted the sharpness of her beautiful Russian features.

She was _beautiful, _Harry would certainly give her that. With an impressive height of about 5'11, a perfectly chiseled nose and a pointed chin, it was obvious that the woman was a model – but unfortunately, that beauty ended the minute Harry recognized the conceit flashing in her dark eyes.

"Oh yes…She _definitely _needs my help, Augustus." The woman drawled in a low, amused voice, her lips twitching into a smug smirk as she glanced down at Harry through her long, lowered lashes. "Would you just look at the state of her hair and clothes? This _definitely _cannot do…James was right to ask me to help. We need to start working immediately." She added in her thick, Russian accent, not bothering to answer Harry directly when she suddenly sat up and stared at her grandfather in question.

"Grandfather? What's going on?" Harry demanded sharply, her eyes narrowing as she met Augustus' slightly curious gaze. Lifting his eyebrows at her, Augustus gave her a reassuring nod and smile.

"Harry, I believe you remember Hadriana? Your father introduced her to you before." He began in a casual tone of voice but Harry just glared back at him, her features creasing into a suspicious frown.

"We've met before." She agreed stiffly, her eyes narrowing even further as she turned back to Hadriana and met her icy smile. "Though I still don't understand what she's doing here." Harry added with a spiteful glare at the other woman, watching as the Russian supermodel smirked back at her.

"I was invited here, darling." Hadriana answered sweetly, causing Harry to stiffen at the falseness of her endearment. "By your father actually…And your Uncle Peter." She sat down onto the bed beside Harry, reaching over and running a hand disdainfully through Harry's long, tangled hair. "They were quite adamant, you see…About wanting to teach you how to look more and _act_ like a lady." Hadriana drawled sweetly, pointedly ignoring the way Harry's cheeks had suddenly paled in dismay.

"What…? That's ridiculous! G–grandfather–" She turned to her grandfather for help but Augustus just smiled back at Hadriana and nodded before turning back to glance pointedly at Harry.

"And quite a relief for us too, Hadriana. Given the recent mess Harry made of things, I would think that now would be the most perfect time to start behaving like a proper lady." He told her sternly, causing his granddaughter to gape at him and flick her wide-eyed gaze back to Hadriana in shock.

"Given the 'recent mess' I made? Grandfather, I'm not so sure I understand what you're talking about–" She stopped when Augustus cut her off, his smile fading and his expression turning severe.

"You've been doing nothing but attracting tabloids, Harry! This has _got _to stop! Your father is the Minister of Magic, and you're _my _granddaughter! You need to start growing up, young lady!" He told her, his mouth forming into a straight, disapproving line as he glanced back questioningly at Hadriana.

"Shall we start with her appearance first, Hadriana? Would you look at the state of her clothes?" Augustus frowned disapprovingly, ignoring the way Harry's cheeks had flushed at the implied insult.

She opened her mouth to argue but Hadriana had already cut her off. The supermodel had smiled back sweetly at Augustus before turning back to look at Harry, her eyes slowly taking in the younger girl's ruffled features. "Now, don't worry love." She cooed as she reached over and tucked a loose strand of black hair behind Harry's ear. "When your father talked to me last night, asking me to fix up his darling little girl, I was _ecstatic_!" She laughed, looking up and smiling sweetly at Augustus again.

"Why…We are going to have _so _much fun, Harry! I'll make you into my own beautiful protégé!" She reassured her as she took a clump of Harry's long hair and held it up, backing away slightly so that she could inspect Harry's scowling features. "Oh my, we are most certainly going to have to do something about this, aren't we? But no matter." She laughed and shook her head at herself. "I know exactly what I'm doing, I'll have your little granddaughter become a beautiful lady in no time, Augustus."

Harry glared at Augustus. "You want to change the way I look and make me look like _her?!_"

Ignoring his granddaughter completely, Augustus smiled approvingly at Hadriana and nodded.

"Then I will leave the rest to your very capable hands_, _Hadriana–"

"Grandfather, you _can't _do this to me!" Harry had suddenly exploded as she bolted up from her bed, rudely shoving Hadriana's fussing hands away from her face and attempting to run out the door. "I'm just a child, for Merlin's sake! You can't leave me to die with this woman, you can't! She's evil, I tell you! She's a demon! And she's going to kill me with all of her make-up, and her curling iron voodoo–"

Not batting an eyelash, her grandfather had anticipated her reaction and caught her easily just as she was trying to escape. "Would you grow up, Harry?!" He interrupted her in exasperation, ignoring his granddaughter's yelps of panic as he tightened his grip on her and pushed her back into the room.

When Harry did nothing else but struggle even more defiantly against him, Augustus let out a sigh of frustration and spoke to her. "Harry, Hadriana is just here to give you a make-over. She's going to help you, child. Now, I'll admit that when Peter first suggested the idea to me and your father, we were a little hesitant about whether it would address all those publicity attacks against you this past week." He paused and watched as Hadriana nodded slowly, smirking as she sauntered slowly over to them.

"But after meeting and talking to Hadriana over here, I guess you can say I'm a little more reassured now." Augustus nodded back in acknowledgment at Hadriana before finally bending down slightly until he could look directly into Harry's stubborn green eyes. "After all, you don't want all of these personal attacks against you and your father to continue, can we? That would just be selfish." He added reproachfully, and the way with which he had said it caused Harry to step away in slight guilt.

"Well, I…I just–"

Augustus reached over to caress the hair on the top of Harry's head. "Think of how badly it reflects on our family, my child…More importantly, think of how it affects your father as this country's Minister of Magic – that his only daughter can't be expected to look and act presentable in the eye of the public." He paused when he noticed the way she had winced at his words before he continued again.

"If we can't silence those pesky reporters, Harry…The most politically-apt response on our part would be to appease them." He reasoned slowly, and it was at this that Hadriana finally spoke up again.

"I promise that I'm just going to fix you up, darling." Hadriana told her sweetly, a smirk still lingering on her lips. "A little grooming will go a long way, you know. And I'm going to teach you–"

Turning around, Harry growled at her. "Grooming?! What do you think I am, a _dog_?!" She snapped, her features creasing into a scowl. Augustus glared at her but even before he could say anything in admonishment, Harry had already noticed the way Hadriana's sweet smile vanished instantly.

Instead, the supermodel was glaring icily at Harry and answered her with an angry sneer. "Well, if you want to refer to _dog, _your manners are certainly similar to one. Your room, however–" She arched a perfectly plucked eyebrow, pursed her lips and glanced disdainfully around Harry's bedroom. "–is more like a pigsty, than anything else. That's something we'll need to work on as well." She snapped.

Furious with humiliation, Harry saw red at her words and was already readying herself to lunge at the other woman when Augustus had let out an exasperated sigh and called her attention again. "That is _enough _from you, Harry! Peter is right, we have been putting this off long enough! You spent too much time with Sirius and Remus, you've inherited all of their nasty, brutish habits! We're just lucky that Hadriana was even willing to help you with this matter! Be thankful for that_!_" He lectured her firmly.

Momentarily distracted from Hadriana's triumphant sneer, Harry gaped and stared back at him.

"Grandfather, I don't need a makeover! I'm perfectly fine; I can act like a lady—"

"In the way a flobberworm can act like a rat." Hadriana mocked under her breath so that Augustus wouldn't hear but Harry ignored her and practically knelt down in front of him in desperation. Unfortunately, Augustus seemed to have given his final decision on the matter because the former Potter Patriarch was already stalking out of the room, leaving Hadriana and Harry glaring at each other.

To her credit, the look of icy contempt on the supermodel's made-up face suited her perfectly and Harry could only glare back defiantly at her when Hadriana pursed her lips, took out her wand and flicked it once, summoning a pair of scissors, a brush, tweezers, a blow dryer and a curling iron into the air. Then, with a decidedly evil smile, she arched a thin eyebrow at Harry and began to approach her.

"Now…I promise…This won't hurt..." Hadriana's lips twitched into a smirk. "…For very long."

Paling, Harry heard the horrifyingly unfamiliar sound of the blow dryer coming to life in Hadriana's hands and without thinking, she gulped, opened her mouth and let out a terrified scream.

* * *

"–the Head of Magical Law Enforcement… Mr. Barty Crouch Sr. – the Head of International Magical Cooperation, and of course, last but not least…Escorted by the stunning _Hadriana Sloveckia _and his lovely daughter, Harriet, may I present to everyone…the Minister of Magic – Mr. James Potter!"

The announcer's voice boomed through the vastly crowded Ministry Ballroom that night, and hearing her name announced out loud to every Ministry guest around the room was enough to send Harry's nervousness on overdrive. Gulping audibly, she barely registered the way her fingers had tightened around her father's right arm until James had smiled and leaned down to whisper into her ear.

"Smile, Prongslet…You look beautiful." He rewarded her with a reassuring kiss on the forehead. Blushing at her father's praise, Harry fidgeted uncomfortably and self-consciously tugged on her dress.

"I feel like an overwrapped sausage, Dad." She complained, referring to the classy, tight green gown that was wrapped snugly around her body. In spite of herself, Harry couldn't help smiling weakly when her father grinned at her comment and laughed. "Well to be honest with you, Harry, I never quite got the full understanding of women's fashion either…So I'll leave that to Hadriana's expertise." He turned to Hadriana – who was, to Harry's annoyance, glowing radiantly as she held onto his left arm.

She pretended to pout at him just as James led them to the entrance of the ballroom – right in plain view of hundreds of guests and reporters that night who had been waiting for the Minister's arrival.

"And what about _me, _love…? Am I not beautiful as well?" She asked in a seductive drawl that Harry did not fail to notice. With narrowed eyes, she looked up and watched as James chuckled and smiled at Hadriana. Ignoring the flashing cameras around them, he leaned down and rewarded her with a kiss on the cheek. "You look ravishing as always, Hadriana…And you know it." He pointed out wryly.

She laughed then – that soft, sultry laugh that Harry had always hated – and blushed prettily. "Well, it never hurts to hear it every now and then from the man that matters most to me." With that, Hadriana turned and pretended to wink at Harry, who did nothing else but roll her eyes in disgust.

"What a load of rubbish." She muttered out loud but fortunately, James didn't hear her.

Instead, as he led them both down the long grand staircase that led down to the Ministry Ballroom, he glanced over at Harry again and rewarded her with a proud, admiring smile. "But in all honesty though, Harry…You really _do _look beautiful." James turned to Hadriana and grinned. "Hadriana, I really have to thank you for all the work you've done for Harry these past few weeks…You're an angel. Even Rita Skeeter had a field day when she spoke to Harry last week. Those tabloids are just about off our tails now." He commented thoughtfully, and in response, Hadriana gave him a satisfied smile

"Of course, love…Although I _must _tell you–" Hadriana followed James' gaze to Harry and her lips twitched as though she wanted to smirk. "–turning your daughter into a lady was _not _an easy feat, James. It was _weeks_ before I got to comb out all of her unruliness. And I'm not just talking about her hair." She pointed out, causing Harry to glare at her in angry embarrassment and James to chuckle.

_That was because she wanted to maul my hair off! _Harry thought furiously to herself, scowling at Hadriana incredulously. The supermodel smirked at her and tightened her hand around James' arm, turning her attention to the guests around them and waving with a well-practiced smile as they passed.

In all fairness to Hadriana though, even Harry _had_ to admit that she herself hadn't expected to see what she had seen in the mirror after Hadriana had just about finished her torture regimen. Where she had once seen nothing but tangled, unruly hair, her dark locks were now straighter and tamer, falling down her waist into small curls. The supermodel had trimmed the thick fringe of hair that had covered her eyes. Instead, she had cut them into attractive side bangs that framed Harry's face perfectly.

She spent about three days dragging Harry's around all of the exclusive beauty spas she knew in England – just to magically remove the ugly scars and scratches that were scattered around Harry's legs, knees and from all of her Quidditch tumbles during the summer. After this was done, Hadriana had used the next few days emptying the contents of Harriet's wardrobe – throwing out old pairs of jeans, sweaters, and even her favorite sneakers – replacing them with blouses, skirts, and fine tailored dresses.

From there, she then forced Harry to wear those new clothes, along with those monstrosities she called _heels, _and enlisted the help of all her friends from work in enforcing in Harry all that Augustus wanted her to learn. Those "lessons" from Hadriana's friends went on for about three hours, practically everyday for three weeks, and what they taught her ranged from beauty maintenance, make-up, sitting and walking properly, and what constituted proper "lady-like" behavior when dealing with situations.

One of the more crucial points Augustus stressed was how Harry's recklessness and impulsiveness with her actions was unacceptable. He emphasized this by bringing up how all of her fights with some of her male Hogwartian schoolmates were nothing but improper and brutish behavior.

Harry hid a smile as she thought back on all the idiots boys that she had beaten up so far.

_Colin Creevey. Cormac McLaggen. Draco Malfoy. Theodore Nott – _the list went on, to be honest. And Harry did not regret a single _one _of them, even if those fights often landed her in detention.

The worst part of the whole ordeal was that since Hadriana and her grandfather had monopolized the remainder of Harriet's summer, she hadn't been able to keep in touch with her friends. She was sure Ron, Hermione and Neville were going to bombard her with questions once school started, and once they did, she couldn't even begin to think about what to say or where she was going to start.

"Minister…?"

The familiar voice that had spoken broke Harry out of her thoughts, and she looked up in confusion. Soon, she was glaring silently as Peter Pettigrew began to approach them, walking up to James and giving him a friendly grin. The former marauder was holding a goblet of wine in one hand as he gestured to the people around the large ballroom before handing James a small slip of parchment.

"Your audience awaits, Minister." Peter told him cheerfully, waiting until James took the parchment from his hand and nodded. Gently disentangling himself from Harry and Hadriana's arms, he excused himself from them for a few minutes before walking to the front of the ballroom with his wand.

After casting a quick _"Sonorus" _charm on himself, James took one quick around the familiar faces around the large Ministry Ballroom before grinning. "Wow…Is it me or is this room filled with a _lot _of important names tonight?" He turned to glance at Peter behind him and pretended to give him a glare. "Pettigrew, you lied to me! If had known that there would be _these _many important people here tonight….If I knew, I wouldn't have agreed to show up and make this speech!" He exclaimed, his words drawing a lot of laughter and amused comments from the officials gathered around the ballroom.

Still grinning sheepishly, James shrugged and eventually folded the parchment, tucking it back into his pocket. "To be really honest with you guys, I didn't really have any specific speech prepared for tonight. Well, _Peter, _my ever faithful advisor did write me one but I'm afraid I've started the opening part of this speech wrong so I can't really use the joke written in there anymore–" More laughter bounced off the walls and Harry couldn't help chuckling at the ease of her father's natural charisma.

"But in all seriousness though–" James' face finally sobered and he glanced around the room again, meeting different pairs of eyes focused on him. "–I really _am _honored to be here tonight…with you guys, the driving force of the Ministry of Magic for the last couple of years." He raised his glass and took a quick sip of champagne before he continued. "More than anything else, you all have always supported the decision of the Ministry and without you, we never would have accomplished all we have."

In the crowd, Amos Diggory raised his goblet up to get his attention and James quipped. "Yes, Amos…You led a lot of Ministry projects. I won't forget to mention you." He kidded, and when Amos laughed at him, James grinned and continued. "More than half of those responsible for all of those murders during the Dark Lord's reign of terror are in Azkaban now–"He got a handful of cheers for this, and he nodded again in gratitude. "–most of those remaining are already on trial as we speak. The rest…are too _terrified _of the Ministry's movement against them." The crowd of guests applauded at this.

Standing a few steps behind James, Peter had a self-satisfied grin on his face as he applauded, nodding emphatically at James' words. Harry was tempted to throw her heeled shoes at him in annoyance but she relented and turned her attention back to her father's speech. James nodded at the crowd's lively response again, pausing for a few seconds to gather his thoughts before he continued.

"As you all know…It has been my _dream _that one day, the Wizarding World will be free from the threat of people like the Dark Lord…Free from the oppression, abuse, and the fear brought upon us not only by the Death Eaters…But also people who are likely to follow their path." James quieted again and waited until the cheers of acknowledgment he got from the crowd died down. "And for that dream, I have dedicated my life and my efforts into making this world a better…_safer _place. One in which children like my beautiful daughter, Harriet—" He turned around to glance at Harry, drawing the room's attention to her blushing face. James smiled encouragingly at her, before turning back to the crowd.

"—or _your _lovely daughters…_Your_ healthy sons…Can walk around the streets even at night without that fear of being attacked by a Cruciatus curse. A world where we – pureblood wizards, muggleborns, and even muggles alike…Will be safe from those who use magic to terrorize innocent lives." James was interrupted briefly when more guests cheered and applauded in agreement around him. Shaking his head in amusement, he continued. "With that dream…With that ultimate _goal _in mind, I am imploring everyone to keep supporting our endeavors…To keep supporting the Ministry of Magic in its programs and its efforts." James gave them a rueful smile, raising his goblet up in acknowledgement.

"My term is just about halfway done… I will be leaving my post as your Minister of Magic in about three more years…And hopefully, I would have accomplished all I have promised you by then. Though I _would _be thoroughly grateful to everyone if you could reappoint me for another term, I won't lie to you guys—" He laughed when he heard Sirius making a loud, teasing comment from where he was standing beside Remus near a group of Aurors. "—but if not, well I can still promise everyone that I will continue to support the Ministry of Magic in bringing peace, order and justice to our country." With that, James raised his goblet up higher into the air, waiting as everyone else watching mirrored his actions.

"—so with that, here's to the Ministry of Magic, all of its Heads, officials, and employees, and of course, to the welfare of this beautiful country. Cheers to everyone and enjoy the party." James smiled amidst a loud smattering of applause around them and after he had taken a long sip from his goblet, everyone around them cheered again and began to scatter amongst themselves to resume mingling.

As soon as he had finished his speech and made his way back over to them, Peter finally turned around and acknowledged Hadriana for the first time. "You look beautiful, Hadriana. Might I have the pleasure of dancing with the Ministress?" He asked, giving her a teasing grin that made her roll her eyes.

"Oh stop it you, I am _hardly _the Ministress, Peter. I doubt that's even a word." Hadriana told him, giggling as she accepted his hand and let him lead her to the dance floor. Peter laughed, both of them ignoring Harriet's incredulous gaze as they strode to the middle of the ballroom and began a light waltz.

She was still watching the pair intently when she felt a hand on the shoulder, causing Harry to jump and whirl around in shock. Her father smiled back at her and she managed a sheepish grin when she noticed his offered hand. "Might I have this dance?" He asked, his expression surprisingly gentle.

Harry met his gaze and nodded, placing her hand in his and allowing him to lead her to the corner of the dance floor. Within a few seconds, James was already leading her into an easy, graceful waltz– and Harry was unfortunately reminded of how utterly inept she was at dancing compared to him. From the moment he was born, James knew how to walk, write, dance and even talk like an aristocrat, and according to Augustus, her father had _always _been one of those model sons. It was for this particular reason that Augustus had been against James' marriage to Harriet's mother in the first place.

"You okay, Harry? What are you thinking about, love?" James had suddenly asked her, breaking Harry out of her reverie. Blinking, she bit her lip and stared up at him. She knew how much it hurt her father whenever she brought up her mother, so she just shook her head and forced a cheerful smile.

"It's nothing, Dad…I…I'm just a little tired, I guess." She told him, and to her mild surprise, James looked a little guilty at her words. He spun Harry around in a quick twirl before he answered her with a sheepish smile. "I feel like I owe you an apology for the last couple of weeks, Harry. I know it must not have been easy to have been forced into such a serious change just because of all the political backlash against me. I was actually against it at first until–" He paused when Harriet cut him off with a glare.

"–until Grandfather and Peter convinced you that it was necessary. Honestly, Dad…Don't try to pretend like I haven't heard this all before." She pointed out flatly, sighing and looking away. "If anything, the one thing that I resented the most from this whole ordeal was the fact that it wasn't _you _who talked to me about it. Instead, you sent Grandfather and _that _woman over to terrorize me." She muttered.

Frowning, James fused his eyebrows together at the anger he heard in her voice. Looking confused, he looked down at Harry again, and then averted his gaze to Hadriana. "Are you talking about Hadriana, Harry? I'm confused. She told me you two got along well enough, do you not like her—"

Harry scoffed loudly at his words and shook her head. "_Like _her? Dad, I _despise _her…In fact, the only thing I can tolerate about her is the fact that she doesn't try to pretend to be nice to me." She told him and in spite of herself, Harry shook her head in dismay at this and managed a weak, amused laugh.

"Though…I _do _haveto admit…That woman has some _serious _skill in making guys fall all over her." She commented and it was at this that James couldn't help chuckling in agreement. After twirling her around again and leading her off closer to the center of the dance floor, James gave her an impish smile.

"A skill that she tells me she would like to pass on to you." He encouraged lightly, but when Harry just made a face at him and pretended to gag, James laughed again and shook his head at her in amusement. "You know Prongslet, it's not actually _bad _to act like a girl every now and then. You should try it." He teased pointedly, but in response to this, Harry just grinned at him and raised an eyebrow.

"Why don't you try it then, Dad? Let me know how that works out for you." She kidded, but she ended up squealing with laughter when James mock scowled and pretended to scruff her by her neck. When Harry protested and struggled wildly against him, he chuckled and let her go, rolling his eyes when her response was to stick her tongue at him. "And you wonder why they all say I'm boyish, Dad."

James grinned at her again, looking slightly sheepish as he ducked his head. He looked as though he wanted to say more but then Harry chose that moment to look at him and speak in a hesitant voice.

"Dad?"

Fingering the beautiful silver locket dangling from her neck, Harry swallowed nervously as she met James' curious gaze. Steeling herself with a deep breath, she gave him a hesitant smile and spoke.

"What was Mom like…? You know…Back when you guys were together…?" Harry instantly noticed the way James had stiffened at her question, but before he could cut her off, she continued. "Was she so beautiful that you fell all over yourself for her as well?" Laughing softly, she caressed her locket in thought, thinking back quietly on how truly beautiful her mother looked in all of her pictures.

For a long time after she had spoken, James didn't say anything and Harry was almost afraid that he was angry with her for bringing up her mother at all. When she noticed the way his jaw had tightened and how he seemed to be struggling as he led her around the dance floor, Harry sighed in defeat.

"Dad, it's been _fourteen years…_And you never _once _talked to me about her." Her voice broke, and she clenched her fists in frustration. "I just want to know what she was like, Dad… I just want to know…_anything…_about her! I mean, did you even love her at all?! Was she even real?!" She snapped at him, and it was at this that James flinched and turned away so that she couldn't see his expression.

When he still refused to say anything, Harry's features creased into an angry, frustrated frown.

"You act as though she never existed, Dad! You won't talk to me about her, you won't let me ask about her, you won't even acknowledge that I _had _a mother!" Harry raged at him, her eyes burning.

"Stop it, Harry." James whispered quietly, his features visibly pained as he looked away.

"Dad, I _know _she's gone – I'm old enough to know what death is! I've accept that long ago—"

"That's _enough!_" James hissed angrily, and before he knew what he was doing, he grabbed Harry by one of her wrists and held her still to cut her off. Shocked at his reaction, Harry blinked at him; her eyes wide with dismay until James seemed to have realized his emotional outburst and let her go immediately. His fingers trembling, he took a shaky breath to calm himself down before he spoke again.

"Your mother loved us both very much, Harry." He lifted his gaze up slowly, meeting her eyes with carefully guarded hazel orbs. "It was because of how much she loved us that she died that night." His eyes darkened and it was as though his handsome face was suddenly drained of all his youth.

"And as much as I loved her, I was too weak and powerless to save her."

James narrowed his eyes and looked down at Harry with a cold, chilling glare. "That, and _only _that, is all you ever need to know." His expression hardened as soon as the words had left his mouth. Fortunately, before Harry could argue with him again, another voice had spoken up behind them, and Harry hesitantly dragged her gaze away from James until she was staring at a familiar, handsome face.

"Cedric…?"

Blinking dazedly, it took Harry more than a few seconds to regain her composure but by then, James had already recovered and greeted the boy in front of them with a smile of acknowledgment. In fact, if Harry didn't know any better, she would have said that her father looked more than _relieved _for the timely interruption as he turned around and gave his full attention to Cedric without hesitation.

"Cedric! Are you still growing? You look a lot taller than the last time I saw you." James managed to quip in false cheerfulness at him. For his part, Cedric didn't seem to notice the lack of James' usual enthusiasm. He smiled back at the older man and laughed, ducking his head sheepishly behind his hand.

"My dad says I grew about two more inches, though I can't really tell." He paused to flick his gaze questioningly at Harry before looking back at James and offering him a polite smile. "I wonder, Uncle James… Would it be okay if I have Harry's next dance?" When he noticed the way James' eyebrows had arched in surprise, he quickly added. "I promise to bring her back to you right after, Sir."

James couldn't help laughing at the nervousness he sensed from him. He gave the Hufflepuff boy a genuine smile this time, and after giving Harry an encouraging nod, he released his bewildered daughter slowly and pushed her gently towards Cedric's outstretched hand. "I don't see why not, Cedric. Though I do feel compelled to warn you, she _is _quite a handful when she's wearing heels." He kidded.

Laughing at this, Cedric moved his gaze to Harry's scowling face and smiled in agreement.

"I'll keep that in mind, Uncle." He quipped back good-naturedly.

Furious with her father for intentionally allowing the distraction, Harry didn't bother saying anything else to James as she walked away. In fact, she didn't glance at her father again until Cedric led her safely away to the opposite end of the dance floor. When she did risk another glance at James, she was angry when she saw that he had sauntered back to Hadriana and claimed her for his next dance.

_If he's not going to talk to me…Then I'll find out about Mom all by myself. _Harry decided stubbornly, watching as James and Hadriana laughed and talked to some of their friends for awhile before they walked off to the dance floor again. She was so intent on watching the two dancing around the room that Harry nearly jumped when Cedric spoke to her again, drawing her attention back to him.

"You know…" He began wryly, smirking when Harry looked up and met his eyes. "…I never really pegged you as the jealous, bratty daughter type, Harry. I have to say, I'm surprised." He teased, chuckling when she flushed at his words instantly and answered him with a slight punch to the arm.

"I am _not _a jealous brat, Cedric! I was just…Well—" She flushed darker and glared at him as she tried to think of what to say. "I just don't like that woman! She's vile, and conceited and Dad will be much better off without her." She reasoned but Cedric just raised an eyebrow at her and shook his head.

"Are you sure that's not just the whole 'I-should-be-the-only-woman-in-your-life' instinct of yours talking, Har?" He asked pointedly. In spite of herself, Harry had the temerity to look ashamed at his words. "I—it's not that! Even Sirius and Remus agree with me, Hadriana is _evil!_ I don't like her at all—"

Rolling his eyes, Cedric shook his head at her and cut her off by stopping their waltz right in the middle of the dance floor. Then, to her confusion, the Hufflepuff dug into his pocket and surprised her by pulling out a single, beautiful red rose. Smiling at her and ignoring the way Harry was looking at him as though he had grown two heads, he pulled her closer and gently pressed the rose into her palm.

"Let's forget about your father and Hadriana for a few minutes, Harry. That wasn't really the reason I asked you to dance." He began softly, watching as her cheeks immediately began to redden in embarrassment. Stiffening and her heart pounding rapidly in her chest, she gulped as Cedric pulled her against him again and resumed their waltz, one of his arms going down and wrapping around her waist.

"Cedric, what are you doing?" She asked him nervously, flushing darker when Cedric just smiled hesitantly at her and adjusted her arms so that they were wrapped around his neck. Before she got the chance to react, he spoke again and this time, the definite sweetness of his soft voice startled her.

"You look really beautiful, you know. I almost didn't recognize you." He teased, and in spite of herself, Harriet made a face at him and laughed, pretending to gag at his words. "I don't even recognize _myself, _Ced…That woman turned me into her own Barbie doll." She ran a hand through her carefully styled hair and frowned. "I _refuse _to believe it takes this much work to be a girl." She commented wryly.

Grinning, Cedric shrugged at her comment and responded by playfully tugging one of her curls. "I wouldn't really know about that, would I? Though, hard work or not, you can be assured that we guys _greatly _appreciate all your efforts anyway." He kidded, giving her a wink and causing her to roll her eyes.

"You would, Ced." She retorted easily, laughing when Cedric's grin just widened and he poked her ribs in response. Scowling, Harry poked him back in retaliation but when Cedric reacted by poking her lightly on the nose, they winced as the reporters around the Hall suddenly went crazy for pictures.

"Oh great…" Harry drawled sarcastically, shaking her head at herself in annoyance as she and Cedric took that opportunity to move towards the corner of the dance floor to get away from the media. "Just what I needed right now. _More _publicity and spicy rumors about whether we're dating or not."

She sighed and lowered her gaze to her shoes in defeat, her eyes weary with exhaustion. "It's really getting tiresome these days, Ced. I'm really sorry if I got you involved in my problems, I'm a little embarrassed to be honest." She told him sheepishly, but to her relief, instead of agreeing with her, Cedric just smiled. Taking the rose from her palm, he pinned it gently to the front of her evening dress.

"It's not a problem, Harry. I don't really mind it as much." He assured her, and before he could say anything else, Harry offered him a grateful smile. "Don't worry, they're usually like this anyway. Give these new pictures about a week or two, the rumors should die down soon enough." She told him.

She noticed the way Cedric's cheeks were beginning to redden at her statement. In mild confusion, she glanced up at him and fused her eyebrows together in question. "Ced? Are you okay?"

Tensing and suddenly nervous, Cedric seemed to hesitate for a few seconds before he looked down at her and managed to give her a shy smile. "I may have a better idea." He began uncertainly.

Curious, Harry arched one eyebrow but nodded and stared up at him, waiting for his response. Blushing even darker, if that was even possible, Cedric swallowed audibly and forced out a laugh – more at himself than anything else. Finally, steeling his nerves, he met her eyes directly with a serious gaze.

"Instead of the usual…Us ignoring the rumor and waiting for it to go away—" Cedric swallowed again but his gaze never wavered from Harry's curious, expectant face. "—why don't we do the exact opposite instead?" He paused for a few minutes to catch his breath and looked up to gauge her reaction.

For her part, Harry just looked even more confused and this was confirmed when she just blinked questioningly at him. "I'm not sure I understand what you mean, Ced." She said uncertainly.

Laughing and shaking his head, Cedric rolled his eyes at her usual obliviousness. Fortunately, her reaction had given Cedric the confidence he needed and he managed to speak up again in clearer voice.

"Harry, what I meant was…How about we get rid of the rumor altogether?" When she still looked confused at this, Cedric went on. "I mean…Correct me if I'm wrong here…But in the strictest definition of the word, something _can't _exactly be a rumor anymore…if it's the truth…Right?" He paused again as he waited nervously for her reaction, watching the look of understanding dawn on her face.

For a minute, it almost seemed as though Harry had gone into mild shock as she immediately dropped her gaze from his face to her shoes and stared intently at it as though it was the most fascinating thing she had ever seen. Blushing horribly but knowing that it was too late to back out now, Cedric hesitated again before he smiled at her reaction and gently prodded her chin up to look at him.

"Harry...?"

Mirroring the horrible blush on his face, Harry was blinking rapidly and stared up at him with wide, doe-eyed expression on her features. Visibly shaken, she swallowed the dry lump in her throat and she opened her mouth to speak but her throat went dry, and Cedric had to speak for them both again.

"A lot of people _have _been mentioning for a while now that we're a couple…And…Well…When I think about it myself… Why _aren't _we? I mean…" Cedric lifted his gaze until his eyes were piercing through her beautiful emerald orbs. "We've known each other for years… Our fathers are good friends. My mother _adores _you…More importantly—" He raised his hand, using it to stroke her pale cheek.

"_I _adore you."

By now, the reporters and media crew around them were going crazy with their cameras and their quick quotes quills but neither Cedric nor Harry paid them any attention. The two teenagers were so caught up in staring at each other's eyes that they barely noticed the large crowd of people that had gathered around them and were watching the tender scene unfold with smiles and hushed whispers.

As soon as he noticed the way Harry's eyes had softened and the beautiful, hesitant smile that was beginning to form on her face, Cedric smiled back slowly, his hand never leaving her cheek. With his free hand, he took Harry's hand in his and intertwined their fingers, raising it to his lips to give it a kiss.

"Truth be told, I've actually felt this way about you for a long time now, Harry…I just…Well, I just never got the chance _or _courage to tell you" Cedric shook his head and laughed softly at himself. With that, he retracted the hand he had on her cheek and took her other hand instead, holding it tightly in his.

"So…What do you say, Harry…? Would you be willing to give this a shot with me…?" Cedric asked, exhaling nervously and looking up at her with wide eyes as he waited patiently for her reaction.

"Will you be my girlfriend…?"

For a long time, the dark-haired Gryffindor remained silent, her eyes wide and confused as she stared back at him and tried to think of what to say. Fortunately, Cedric was patient, and didn't appear inclined to rush her so Harry took that opportunity to reflect carefully on everything he had just said.

Though she considered Cedric a good close friend, she never would have anticipated this at all. Since they were children, Cedric had always been very supportive of her and he had even gone as far as to defend her several times in school back when the students accused her of being the Heir of Slytherin.

Of course, she couldn't deny the fact that he was handsome. In fact, as far as Ginny would often remind her, Cedric was one of the most handsome boys in school and though she had grown up with him, she certainly couldn't deny that she found him attractive as well. He was smart, athletic, nice – basically everyone's favorite guy in Hogwarts altogether, and nearly everyone wanted to be his friend.

_So what could he possibly want with me?!_

"Harry…?"

Startled out of her own thoughts, Harry blinked and stared back up at him, watching as Cedric seemed to shift around nervously as he waited for her answer. Harry cringed awkwardly at him – all the questions she wanted to ask forming in her head but for the life of her, she couldn't voice them out.

"Cedric, I'm…I'm a little confused…I'm going to need some time to—" Harry cut her own stammering response off and took a step away from the Hufflepuff to gain some distance. A little disappointed with her reaction, Cedric managed a polite smile at her and nodded in understanding.

"I understand, Harry—No, wait! Look out!" He reached a hand out to pull her toward him again but in her nervousness, Harry jumped at this and turned sharply to her side – inadvertently colliding with the small house elf that had been approaching from the left. On impulse, she gasped in alarm and grabbed onto the house elf's cake tray for support. Unfortunately, she only realized the stupidity of what she had done the minute she crashed onto the floor, falling face first into the bright pink cake.

_**SPLAT!**_

For a few seconds, Harry was seriously considering burying her tomato-red face into what remained of the cake on the floor again, just so she could hide from the laughter and the wildly flashing cameras – but it was Sirius' reaction from across the ballroom that actually made the situation worse.

"Nice one, Harry!" Sirius called out to her from where he was standing beside James, Remus, Tonks and a group of Aurors. At his words, more guests turned to look towards them and more tabloid reporters raised their cameras up – causing Harriet to glare heatedly at her laughing godfather in anger.

"Are you alright?!" Cedric was kneeling by her side immediately, and already she could see the concern that written all over his face. Ignoring the jeers and laughter they could hear from the guests nearby, Harry allowed herself a whimper of embarrassment and hesitantly took Cedric's offered hand.

_Oh. Bloody. Hell._

When she noticed that the entire ballroom of guests were still laughing at her, Harry moved her gaze to try and gauge her father's reaction – and she was horrified to note that James was also trying to muffle his laughter. Remus, Tonks, Peter and Hadriana stood beside him, and though Tonks and Remus actually looked as though they were trying their best not to let their sympathy show, Peter and Hadriana just looked annoyed with her.

The worst of all the reactions she saw, however, was that of her grandfather, Augustus, who was currently standing with Amos Diggory by the corner of the room. The former Potter patriarch looked humiliated as he glared at her, and he shook his head once before burying his face into his hands.

"_Harry, darling! Over here!" _

Mumbling miserably to herself as she began wiping her face, Harry blinked and flicked her gaze distractedly towards the direction of the person who had spoken. To her dismay, the sight that had greeted her turned out to be a large, poised magical camera held up by none other than Rita Skeeter.

"_SMILE FOR THE DAILY PROPHET!"_

* * *

"—Cedric Diggory confesses he likes you and what do you do? You trip and land your face right into a pink tub of cake! This is going to be all over the Daily Prophet tomorrow, and it's all your fault! Really smooth, Potter…_Really very smooth!_" Harry grumbled miserably to herself as she glared accusingly at her reflection in the bathroom of one of the Ministry offices above the ballroom. When her reflection just stared back at her and offered a shrug, she scowled and smacked herself on the forehead.

"Stupid…_stupid, stupid, stupid! _I can't believe that just happened – how in Merlin's name are you going to be able to show your face to the public again?" Harry asked the mirror helplessly, but when her reflection just grinned at her, she slumped in defeat and turned the faucet off. "You're no help at all."

Slinking over to the corner of the bathroom, she grabbed the handkerchief that Cedric had given her and angrily wiped her wet face with it – accidentally smudging her make-up all over her cheeks.

"Who can stomach having this much gunk all over her face?!" She asked no one in particular.

Sighing and still muttering about her continuous streak of bad luck, Harry sighed and grabbed her wand flicking it over herself to charm her dress dry. Then, after casting one last exasperated look at her reflection in the bathroom mirror, she shook her head and quickly made her way out of the room. As soon as she was outside, she was just about to turn back towards the Ministry Ballroom when a quick flash of movement heading towards the end of the corridor caught her eye, and she turned around.

_Peter…? _Momentarily distracted, she froze just as she was about to step out from the bathroom and hastily drew back into the hall shadows before Peter could notice her. _What is he doing up here? _

Frowning, Harry backed herself further until she was hidden perfectly behind a statue and watched as Peter paused right in the middle of the long hallway. When the former marauder seemed to hesitate and glance around him to make sure he wasn't being followed, Harry stilled and held her breath.

_And just what would 'you' be doing skulking around like a rat in a dark corridor, Peter? _Harry thought to herself, watching as Peter seemed to have decided that it was safe to go on as he whirled around and continued further down the hall. Narrowing her eyes in suspicion, Harry flicked her gaze from left to right to make sure no could see her before she took a deep breath and followed after him.

When Peter stopped as he reached the corner and turned sharply to his left, Harry hurried after him and watched as Peter stopped by the door to Barty Crouch's office. Once he had stepped inside, Harry quickly tiptoed behind the statue near the front of the open doorway so she could listen to them.

"_What the bloody hell took you so long, Pettigrew?"_

"_This wasn't actually the best of times to meet up, you know."_

"_Did you bring what I asked you?"_

Frowning, Harry tried to peer out from the side of the statue to catch a glimpse of what Peter was handing Crouch but from her end, all she saw was what looked like a large, heavily covered flask.

"_This should last for about a few days." _

"_I take it we are all set with the tournament arrangements then?"_

"_Everything is being prepared as we speak."_

"_And Mad-Eye?"_

Harry heard Peter's derisive laugh of amusement before he answered.

"_He's still convinced that someone's out to get him – as always. Although this time, that old bat may not actually be off track. Fortunately for us, I doubt anyone's going to believe him anyway."_

"_Indeed. Have you seen to Lucius Malfoy?"_

There was a long moment of silence before Peter spoke again.

"_What about him? Do you suspect that he's going to cause any trouble? Why would he?" _

Harry could have sworn she heard the sneer in Barty Crouch's voice when he answered.

"_I'm beginning to think that ol' Lucius has been hiding something from us. I suspect that he can no longer be trusted." _Crouch told him, his voice dripping with resentment as he spoke. Peering out from behind the statue again, Harry managed to catch a glimpse of Peter's look of mild surprise at this.

"_Are you certain? Well then what do you propose we do about him?"_

Crouch was sneering as he stood up and began shrugging himself into his Ministry cloak.

"_Let's just keep an eye on him for now…And make sure that he stays away from the Potters. We can't afford to let him slip too much information into the wrong hands." _He drawled in a low voice.

"_Those blood traitors… Do you think his son and his wife know?"_

"_We're not sure." _

Harry's eyebrows fused together in confusion at the strange way Crouch had used 'we' instead of 'I'. She didn't get to linger on this for long, however, because when she saw that Crouch and Peter beginning to make their way out of the office, she tensed and ducked down further behind the statue.

"_Take care of it. Whatever you do, just make sure that the Potters stay away from the Malfoys." _

"_Leave it to me."_

"_Oh and Pettigrew?"_

Harry had to place both of her hands over her mouth to muffle her breathing when Peter seemed to have stopped directly in front of the statue she was hiding behind. When he paused and leaned casually against the statue, Harry paled even further and she didn't dare move a single muscle.

"_Keep a close watch over the Minister's daughter." _

She stiffened, and her heart nearly froze in her chest when she heard Crouch's next words.

"_She's getting way too curious for her own good."_

With that, Crouch and Peter nodded to each other before they strode off towards opposite directions of the corridor, their footsteps fading into the distance. As soon as Harry was sure that they were gone, she took a shaky breath and stumbled out from behind the statue in relief. Her heart was still pounding as she walked back hastily towards the Ballroom, all the while looking around to make sure that neither Peter nor Crouch was nearby. As she turned a corner, however, Harry nearly screamed in fright when she collided with the cloaked figure that had been approaching from the other side.

"_Potter!"_

Trembling and visibly shaken, Harry managed a nervous laugh and looked up sheepishly into the stern, scowling face of none other than her most hated professor back at school – Severus Snape. To his credit, the Potions Master actually looked concerned at her reaction for a few seconds, but that concern was soon washed away when he recognized who she was. He sneered instantly, giving her a dark glare.

"What do you think you're doing up here, Potter?" He hissed, and without waiting for her to answer, he narrowed his eyes at her in suspicion. "Shouldn't you be back at the party downstairs? Your father might throw another one of his famous hissy fits if he found out his little brat was missing." He spat out cruelly, his sneer hardening when he noticed the way Harry had stiffened in anger at his words.

"I just came back from the ladies room. I'm heading back to the party now." She retorted, making sure to use the same snappy voice that Snape often used with her. When the Potions Master glared back at her and didn't seem to appreciate her disrespectful tone, she added icily. "Professor."

Snape narrowed his eyes at her, one of his thick, dark eyebrows arching up at her in contempt.

"How very like your father you really are, Potter—" She opened her mouth to contradict him but Snape had anticipated this and cut her off quickly with a cold, blunt voice. "—arrogant, obnoxious, conceited little brats… Always strutting about the place thinking you can do whatever you want—"

"My Dad does _not _strut. And neither do I, Professor Snape." Harry snapped back coldly.

Snape glared back resentfully at her, his features twisted into an angry growl. "Do _not _talk back to me, girl. I know things about your beloved father that would make your hair stand on end." Sneering, he towered over her with his height until Harry swallowed nervously and backed away a few steps. "One wrong move from _either _of you two…And I just might let slip _all _of your precious family's dirty secrets to a dear acquaintance of mine…Rita Skeeter, perhaps? I believe you've met her before." He drawled.

Harry paled at his words but she instantly held back the insult that had formed on her lips.

"You _wouldn't._"

The sneer on Snape's face widened and his eyes narrowed at her in challenge.

"Don't _tempt _me, Potter."

Curious and yet, unsure as to what exactly he meant, Harry glared up at him and frowned. "Just what exactly would _you _know about my father, Professor?" She asked, a hint of uncertainty in her voice.

At the nervousness he saw in her features, the contempt on Snape's face turned particularly vicious and he almost smiled at her. "Now wouldn't _you _like to know, little Miss Potter?" He mocked.

Her frown deepening, Harry was just about to prod him about this further but before she could even say anything else, a loud familiar voice had suddenly called out to her from behind, cutting her off.

"Harry, you git! What do you think you're doing lingering up here by yourself?!"

Whirling around, Harry didn't actually know whether she should be feeling relieved or annoyed at the sight of her godfather hastily making his way towards her from the very end of the long hallway. To her surprise– when she had glanced back at Snape behind her, she was taken back when she saw that the Potions Master had hastily made himself scarce – sauntering off towards the opposite direction.

"Harry!"

Startled, Harry blinked and looked up to meet Sirius' exasperated glare just as the Head Auror had stopped in front of her and gave her a disapproving frown. "Look, kiddo…I'm as against this whole '24-hour protection' thing that James has got going on you too but I have to tell you…Running off on your own all the time is not going to ease your father's safety concerns at all." He reminded pointedly.

Glaring back at him in response, Harry opened her mouth to tell him off but before she could even utter a word, Sirius rolled his eyes at her and grabbed her lightly by the arm. "Come on now. We have to get back, your father's just about choking with worry looking for you downstairs." He told her.

At his words, Harry couldn't resist scoffing and answering him a disbelieving scowl. "Are you sure? He could actually just be choking on his own bile from laughing at his own daughter awhile ago. In fact–" She ignored the sheepish grin he gave her and narrowed her eyes at him. "–I'm surprised _you_ aren't choking as well." She added, and it was at this that Sirius actually gave her an apologetic smile.

"Alright, Miss grouchypants… I'm sorry for laughing at you back there, okay? But you _do _have to admit…" He grinned again and loosened his hold on her arm as he led them both back towards the Ministry Ballroom. "Seeing you falling all over yourself for a boy like Cedric Diggory _was _pretty funny."

"Take that back!"

The instant he had said this, Harry was on him instantly – wrestling his arm as she tried to tuck it behind his back in annoyance but as always, Sirius had anticipated her reaction and merely chuckled as he easily twisted himself free from her grip. Ignoring her frustrated growl, his expression sobered for a few seconds as he turned back around and leveled his goddaughter with a careful, scrutinizing gaze.

"Before I forget…What _were _you doing up here this long…? You looked pretty shaken a moment ago when I saw you. Was Snape giving you rubbish again? Sirius asked, his eyes narrowed in concern.

Thinking back on everything she had seen and heard in the last half hour, Harry looked up at him, and after a few seconds of awkward silence, she managed to force out a reassuring smile onto her face.

"It was nothing…I just–" She hesitated, flicking her gaze back in the direction of Crouch's office.

"–I went looking for the bathroom, then I got lost." Harry heard the outright lie echoing a few times in her head but she ignored it and sighed in relief when Sirius didn't intrude on her by asking her more questions. "I guess I'm just too curious for my own good, huh?" She managed a nervous laugh.

His eyebrows fused, Sirius looked extremely bothered by her comment. Without saying anything else, they walked back to the Ballroom in silence, both their thoughts lingering on Harry's last words.

* * *

**A/N: ** Lots of love and hugs to everyone who's reviewed and followed the story so far! I'm really happy to see that you all like the developing plot! More DM/femHP to come in the later chapters, I promise! :D

**Next Chapter: ** Back to Hogwarts: the arrival of Beauxbatons, Durmstrang, Dumbledore announces the TriWizard Tournament (expect a few healthy doses of DM/femHP in between for some spice :D )

So what do you guys think? Do you think Harry should accept Cedric's proposal?

**Please don't forget to drop a review and tell me your thoughts, dearies! See you next update! :D**


	4. A Lesson about Boys

**Harriet Potter and the Minister of Magic **

**Disclaimer:** I don't own Harry Potter or any of the characters you recognize from the HP books in this story. All I own is the plot. Everything else belongs to JK Rowling.

**Pairings**: DM/femHP (eventual). CD/femHP. RW/HG. BZ/GW. JP/LP (past). SS/LP (one-sided).

**Warnings:** Spoilers from canon (Books 4 to 7). Occasional time jumps from chapter to chapter. Mature content later on.

**Notes: **This chapter focuses more on Harry than anything else, as I know everyone seems to be angry with James at the moment. (^_^) I really enjoyed writing this chapter, by the way. I had to write it from a teen perspective, so I hope you can all forgive me for the rather immature behavior of some of the characters, including Harry, in here. They're all _fourteen _here, guys… I doubt I can write too much flirting at this age. :Laughs: There will be time for more development in the future, I promise. With that, enjoy the chapter!

* * *

**Chapter 4 – A Lesson about Boys**

Harry was dreading the train ride back to Hogwarts for two very good reasons.

The first reason was that she knew at least _half _of the school would begin whispering and staring at her the minute she got onto that train, but the second reason was what made her more nervous. She would be seeing Cedric again – and truth be told, she had purposely been avoiding him since they had last seen each other at the Ministry party. She still didn't have _any _idea what she was going to say, and though Harry had thought long and hard about his question for days, she still couldn't make up her mind.

_Maybe if I pretend to act like nothing happened for awhile? _She thought quietly to herself, her expression dazed as she blindly followed Remus and Tonks down the long, bustling halls of Kings Cross Station. She heard Sirius hurrying to catch up behind them as he pushed Harry's things after her, her school trunk and Hedwig strapped neatly to the trolley. Once they had reached the barrier that would lead her onto the Hogwarts Express platform, the three adults stopped and let her walk through first.

She complied quietly and once she had stepped onto the platform, she glanced back and waited patiently until Sirius, Remus and Tonks had all passed through. Then, as soon as they had led her quickly to where the other students were already beginning to board the train, Sirius and Remus hastily began picking up her things and placing them into the baggage compartment near the bottom of the train.

"Go on then, Harry! You don't want to be late for your first day of school now would you?" Remus admonished her lightly as he finished with her things and turned back to face her, dusting his hands. "Owl us the minute you wake up tomorrow, alright? Just to let us know you had a safe journey." He reminded her and Harry smiled at this, nodding and taking Hedwig's cage from his outstretched arm.

"I will, Remus. I promise." She paused, looking up hesitantly at Sirius, Remus and Tonks' expressions. When they sighed and looked back guiltily at her, she asked quietly. "Is Dad coming…?"

Sirius and Remus met each other's gazes for a few seconds before looking back at her and hanging their heads. "He–" Sirius paused and ran a hand through his hair. "–he had to run ahead, Harry. He had an early Ministry trial to attend this morning." He began, and when Harry looked disappointed at this, he added quickly. "But he _did _mention that that he'll try and visit you in Hogwarts as soon as he's free." He tried to smile encouragingly at her but Harry had just looked crestfallen as she looked away.

Instead, she turned to Tonks and Remus instead and forced a bright smile up at them. "Thanks for bringing me here, you guys. I'll see you soon again, right? This Christmas, I hope?" Her smile brightened when Remus smiled back at her and bent down, rewarding her with a tight, fatherly hug.

"Of course we will, Harry. We look forward to that every year." He told her, and once he had released her, Tonks stepped forward and pulled Harry into an overly tight, affectionate hug. "And _do _try to get yourself a boyfriend by then, sweetheart,. It'll do you some good, you know." She added teasingly.

"No, it won't." Sirius suddenly hissed to Remus, nudging the other man in annoyance and wincing when Remus growled and nudged him back. "Tell your wife to stop influencing my goddaughter!"

Fortunately, Harry failed to notice both men's scowls as she looked up at Tonk's statement and frowned. "What do you mean?" She asked curiously, flushing slightly when Tonks winked back at her. Glancing quickly back at Sirius and Remus to make sure both men weren't listening, the female Auror bent down lower so that she could whisper into Harry's ear. "Remember what we talked about a few nights ago?" She didn't bother waiting for the younger girl's response before she quickly added. "There are actually a _lot _of advantages to being a girl, Harry. In fact, the more you act like a girl–" She smirked, arching an eyebrow pointedly at Harry's befuddled expression. "–the more boys are apt to treat you differently. And trust me…Most of the time, we can use this to our advantage." She smiled for emphasis.

For her part, Harry continued to look confused at her words and asked out loud. "How?"

Tonks grinned cheekily at her. "You'll find out soon enough, love. Now…" She paused and pointed to something over Harry's shoulder, causing the Gryffindor to whirl around. "–don't look now, Harry. But here comes that guy of yours. Oh my…Who's that lovely Chinese girl with him?" She pretended to tease in a hushed whisper, inadvertently causing Harry to feel to scowl to herself when she caught sight of Cedric Diggory walking towards the train, Cho Chang trailing quickly along behind him.

At the sight of the lovely Ravenclaw chatting happily with Cedric, however, Harry couldn't help but feel a twinge of jealousy stirring in her chest but before she could comment on this any further to Tonks, the female Auror had laughed and spoken again. "Cedric's a good kid, Harry…And quite a cute boy. Maybe you should consider giving him a chance. It wouldn't hurt you to be a girl once in awhile you know…Go on and let yourself be happy sometimes." She told her, giving her an encouraging smile.

In spite of herself, Harry tore her gaze away from Cedric and looked up at Tonks.

"Do you really think I should give him a chance, Dora?"

Tonks laughed at the hesitation she heard in her voice. "Ah, you're young and beautiful, sweetheart. Experiment a bit. Have fun." She lowered her voice again so that Remus or Sirius couldn't hear them. "Go on and show those idiot boys around Hogwarts who's the boss!" She added cheerfully.

Laughing, Harry wasn't exactly sure what to say in response to this so she just nodded and grinned at her before finally turning around to face her godfather. She rolled her eyes, however, when she saw that Sirius was pretending to scowl at her in indignation. "Oh and _I'm _the last one you hug now am I, Harry?" He complained, causing her to stick her tongue out at him but reward him with a tight hug.

"Oh you–" She had to tiptoe slightly so that she could fully hug her godfather's tall frame. "–you know you're my favorite idiot dog, Sirius." She teased, shaking her head at her godfather's childishness. She smiled when she realized that Sirius had definitely hugged her the longest, and he refused to let go of her until they all heard the train whistle indicating that the Hogwarts Express was just about to leave.

Reluctantly disentangling herself from Sirius' death grip, she smiled back at Remus and Tonks before reaching for Hedwig's cage again. "Well…I guess I'd better get on the train. I doubt Mr. Weasley will let me borrow his flying car this time." She kidded, although she pretended to consider the idea.

Remus and Tonks glared at her instantly while Sirius just laughed at her comment. "Very funny, Harry." Remus scolded, although he smiled at her in exasperation and shook his head. "Go on ahead before the train leaves." He gave her a smile before pushing her gently towards the train entrance.

Harry grinned back at him before she nodded and grabbed Hedwig's cage again, giving all three adults one last smile and wave before she hopped onto the train. She hung back by the doors, however, and continued to wave back at them until the Hogwarts Express had completely pulled out of the station. As soon as Sirius, Remus and Tonks' figures had faded off into the distance, Harry finally sighed and looked at Hedwig. "Shall we go look for a compartment, Hedwig?" She asked, earning a hoot in response.

Chuckling, Harry took that as an affirmative response and slinked through the train, poking through several of the compartments along the way in search of her friends. After about fifteen compartments filled with students, however, when Harry stumbled upon an empty compartment near the middle of the train, her resolve shuttered and suddenly, she had realized just how sleepy she was.

"This looks comfy…Why don't we just stay here for awhile, Hedwig? Let's wait for Hermione to find us, huh?" She commented to Hedwig lightly as she set the cage onto one of the seats. Then, yawning sleepily, Harry plopped herself down onto the opposite side and leaned against the backrest.

Blinking, she leaned back and reached into her shirt, pulling out the silver locket dangling from her neck and staring at it in thought. As she grasped the heart and clicked it open, Harry sighed and stared at the picture of her parents staring back at her with warm, encouraging smiles. It was a picture of her mother _and _her father back when they were teenagers, and Harry found that she often loved staring at the small picture – wondering how her father had really come to change in the last few years.

_ He hasn't spoken to me since I accosted him about mom during the party. _Harry thought miserably to herself. _He didn't even come to see me off. He acts as though I did something so horrible. _She sighed again and shook her head, closing her locket with a light 'click' and looking out the window.

For awhile, she watched as the scenery in front of her whizzed by – and it wasn't long before she soon drifted off into a deep sleep. Pretty soon she heard somebody else entering the compartment with her and sleepily thinking that it was Cedric or Hermione, Harry murmured an incoherent greeting in response and snuggled back against the seat. She heard Hedwig hooting pointedly at her to get her attention but she ignored this and gave another yawn before drifting off into a deep slumber again.

Harry wasn't actually sure just how long she had been asleep since then, but when she felt the train give a sudden lurch as it passed by a bump track, she jerked awake instantly and looked around. Blinking, it took the Gryffindor a few hazy moments to realize exactly where she was or what she had been doing, but as soon as she heard the male voice speaking in front of her, she froze right in her place.

"Good morning, sleeping beauty."

Lifting her gaze, Harry stared – wide-eyed and her cheeks flushing – at the familiar smirking blonde seated in front of her. Inwardly trying to decide for herself whether the Slytherin had been sarcastic or not, Harry stared dumbly at him for a few minutes, her throat too dry to speak. Fortunately, he didn't seem to notice her confusion and instead, turned another page of the book that was on his lap.

Horrified, Harry then realized with a jolt of surprise that a large, expensive jacket had been carefully draped over her form and with a gasp, she moved away, gathering the jacket into her arms.

"Malfoy, _what–"_

"You're quite welcome for the jacket, by the way." Malfoy answered her calmly, his lips twitching with mirth as he looked up and met the gaping, disbelieving expression on her flushed face. "You were shivering when I entered the compartment an hour ago." He drawled out with a pointed look.

She sputtered at him in embarrassment, unable to think of anything coherent to say in response.

"I–I was…That is…Why didn't you wake me up then?!"

Finally looking up from the book he was reading, Malfoy watched her curiously, the smirk on his face growing as he seemed to inspect her appearance from head to toe. "You looked cute sleeping." He arched an eyebrow as his gaze lingered on the short, tailored dress she was wearing before he grinned.

"You make a pretty good girl. I do believe I like you better this way." He remarked arrogantly, pointedly choosing to ignore the way Harry's features had scrunched up at him in indignation. "In fact, if I hadn't known any better, I wouldn't even have known that it was _you._" He added with a soft snigger.

"Oh shut up!" She hissed, her eyes narrowing as she hurled his jacket back at him in disgust. "And take your disgusting jacket back, Malfoy! I don't need your germs all over me!" She growled childishly, her cheeks still burning with how, despite herself, she had unknowingly been snuggling contentedly into his jacket while she was asleep. She even had his scent stamped in her mind to prove it.

"What are you doing here anyway? Who told you that you could sit in here with me?!" She added angrily, but Malfoy just arched an eyebrow at her reaction and responded with an annoyed glare.

"This compartment is where _I _usually stay, Potter. It's _you _who's trespassing here, you know. You're lucky I didn't kick your sorry arse out when I found you." He retorted, sneering at her when Harry seemed to blink in surprise at his words. Blushing again and suddenly realizing that she may, in fact, have been the one at fault, Harry cursed under her breath and stood up, reaching for Hedwig's cage.

"Fine, I'll leave then." She ground out, but even before she had managed to head towards the door, Malfoy's eyes suddenly widened in alarm and a heavy blush stained his cheeks as he called out.

"P–potter!" He stammered, suddenly gulping as his eyes focused on something below her navel.

Irritated, Harry paused and turned, glaring at him again with narrowed green eyes.

"What?!"

His cheeks flushed almost as red as a tomato, Malfoy managed to lift his gaze up and meet her eyes, his features suddenly settling into a decidedly amused smile that Harry couldn't quite make out. When she stared at him in question, the corner of his lips began to tug upwards into an impish smirk.

"You should fix your skirt, I think."

His grin widened as soon as Harry had realized what he meant and despite herself – as soon as she had seen the way her skirt had accidentally hitched up way above her thighs when she stood up – she let out a surprisingly girly squeak of embarrassment and hastily yanked it back down. Blushing horribly at the wide smirk she could see on Malfoy's face, Harry tore her gaze away from his instantly.

"I–I…I'm leaving now." She tried to sound calm and impassive as she had said this but unfortunately, her words had come out in as a shy, high-pitched squeak again. To her horror, the Slytherin leaned back contentedly against his seat, stretched his legs and looked at her with a smug grin.

"So…snitch-patterned knickers, Potter?"

Harry froze – and if it was even possible, her cheeks grew even redder at his words.

"How surprisingly fitting for you." Malfoy commented after a decidedly long moment's pause. When he saw that Harry had whipped around again and gaped at him with wide, horrified eyes, he quickly added. "Oh don't worry about it so much, Potter. I think they're actually quite cute." He teased, and Harry had to bite her tongue to keep herself from cursing the blonde Slytherin into the next century.

"Malfoy, shut up–"

"In fact, I think they give a whole new _meaning _to the phrase 'finding the golden snitch'." Malfoy teased her again, his lips twitching when he saw the uncharacteristically look of shy feminine indignation on Harry's face. Unable to say anything in response to that, Harry began to sputter a few times at him.

"I…I…I just…You can't–" She blushed again and glared at him, furious with herself for reacting this way and even more furious with _him _when she saw how Malfoy was obviously enjoying her reaction. When a few _more _attempts at trying to speak failed her, Harry finally gave up and she whirled around, hastily snatching up Hedwig's cage and practically bolting for the exit as she managed one last squeak.

"_You pervert!" _

Harry ran out of there before the Slytherin could utter another word – although she could have sworn that she caught a glimpse of Malfoy bursting out laughing just before she left. Not wanting to dwell any longer on the embarrassing scene that had just happened, however, Harry shook her head and began plowing through the compartments ahead in search of any of her Gryffindor housemates.

She managed to pass by Cedric's compartment along the way, and although Harry would have wanted to join him when he had smiled at her and beckoned her over to sit beside him and his friends, she froze by the entrance when she saw who was seated on his other side. To her credit, Cho Chang was also smiling at her and inviting her in. Inwardly fuming, Harry forced a smile at them but declined. She barely noticed the way she was glaring at Cedric until the Hufflepuff stared back at her in confusion, but before he could chase after her, Harry had already scowled and scurried off towards the end of the train.

Not surprisingly, she finally managed to find Ron, Neville, and Hermione seated at the very last compartment of the train. Neville and Ron were in the middle of a game of chess and Hermione was reading a book when Harry clambered in, and without as much as a greeting, she plopped herself down beside Hermione and let out a sigh of exasperation. When the three Gryffindors blinked at her and gave her a bewildered look, Harry rewarded them with a pointed glare and spoke up in an irritated voice.

"You know…_Most _people would go looking for their friend if she went missing for some time." She told them with a scowl, but Ron and Neville just smiled sheepishly at her while Hermione scoffed. "We thought you were with Cedric, Harry. With all of the publicity surrounding you two this summer, we figured you'd have forgotten about us – your lowly _friends _– anyway." She sniffed, and at her words, the scowl on Harry's face finally sobered and she glanced back guiltily at Hermione's frowning expression.

"Aw 'Mione, come on…Don't be like that. Look, I _wanted _to apologize to you guys about not being able to write back as often as I normally do but you wouldn't believe what my Dad had me–" She was cut off when Ron had suddenly exclaimed at her, his loud voice causing her to jump in surprise.

"Bloody hell, mate!" His eyes widened and he tore his gaze away from the chessboard for a few moments as he stared at Harry as though she had grown an extra head. "Are you wearing a _skirt? _Merlin's beard, I would never have believed those papers until I saw you with my own eyes! You look–"

"–like a girl." Neville supplied for him with a wide-eyed expression as he and Ron both inspected Harry's blushing appearance from head to toe. For a few seconds, it looked as though the two Gryffindor boys had gone into shock – but then Hermione spoke up again, drawing their attention back to her.

"She _is _a girl, you prats…" Hermione admonished them, rolling her eyes at their antics when Ron and Neville continued to gape at Harry like they were staring at an entirely new species. "And just for the record, so am _I. _It wouldn't hurt you two to acknowledge that once in awhile." She added huffily.

When Ron and Neville glanced back at the girls with slightly sheepish smiles, Hermione and Harry both scowled at them in exasperation. "Well…It's not that we don't notice you guys are girls, you know. It's just that…Well… We never _thought _of you as 'one of them' until now." Neville tried to explain as he glanced over at Harry again and pretended to whistle appreciatively, causing her to glare at him.

"One of them?" She asked, earning an exasperated look from Ron as he explained in response. "Technically, for guys, there are _two _types of girls. Girls who are their friends and thus do not need us to be nervous around them…_aaand _girls who look like…well…_you." _He pointed to Harry again and instinctively, remembering the incident awhile ago, she self-consciously pulled down on her skirt.

"Was I just insulted here? I'm still not getting what you mean guys." She admitted miserably.

When Ron and Neville met each other's eyes and stared at her again, Hermione rolled her eyes at Harry's ignorance and gave her a reluctant smile. "I think what they mean is…You look very lovely, Harry. And personally, I'm happy that you and Cedric got together this summer–" She was cut off when Harry flushed and glowered, ignoring the way Neville was suddenly grinning at her like a Cheshire cat.

"Hermione, Cedric and I are _not _together! Don't believe a single _word _of what that Skeeter woman says, she's just trying to spread more of her false rumors about me and Cedric!" She tried to protest, but Ron interrupted her by scowling and shaking his head at Hermione's words in indignation.

"Harry, I can't believe you're going out with that pretty-boy! You can do much better than that!" He scowled at her, but before Harry even got a chance to protest again, Neville added to Ron's words. "Gran and I were a little surprised when we saw the newspapers about you and Cedric … But I'm happy for you, Harry." He told her with a smile, but Harry just flushed again and shook her head furiously.

"Guys, I'm telling you I'm _not _dating Cedric Diggory! That was just some rumor that started after that scene in the Ministry party!" She rushed out, but as soon as the words 'Ministry Party' had left her lips, Harry was suddenly reminded of what she had intended to tell her friends about in the first place – and the expression on her face instantly became grim. "Speaking of the Ministry party… I think I may have overheard something suspicious–" Harry paused for a few seconds and stood up, purposely slamming their compartment doors shut before she turned to her friends' tense, questioning faces again.

"I have something important to tell you guys."

* * *

"Shh! Stop staring, you guys! It's embarrassing!" Hermione hissed at Ron, Neville, and Harry as the three Gryffindors continued to gape and stare stupidly at Viktor Krum across the room. The tall, Bulgarian Quidditch player was currently seated at the Slytherin table and was calmly eating his dinner along with his other Durmstrang schoolmates who had arrived at Hogwarts earlier that afternoon.

Pointedly ignoring the way Hermione was nudging her in impatience, Harry watched in self-satisfaction as Malfoy – who was seated just to the right of Krum – kept trying to engage the Quidditch player in an active conversation but was apparently not having any luck. In fact, if Harry didn't know any better, she could have sworn that Viktor Krum looked incredibly _bored _with Malfoy's conversation and he proved Harry's theory correct when Krum finally tuned Malfoy out and turned back to eat his dinner.

Seated at the Ravenclaw table just adjacent to the Slytherins, an entire horde of Beauxbatons students were also eating dinner and a pretty, silver-blonde girl named 'Fleur Delacour' stood out easily amongst them, attracting the attention of practically every male in the room. Most of the Hufflepuff boys and a good portion of the Gryffindors were the ones who were staring at Fleur the most – and that included Ron, Neville, Dean, and Seamus as they continued to gape and drool over Fleur in silence.

Highly amused at the sight her friends made, Harry let her gaze wander around the Great Hall again in silence, taking in the mixture of differently colored uniforms all around. The two schools, Beauxbatons and Durmstrang, had arrived that afternoon for the announcement of the TriWizard Tournament that evening – and soon after, pandemonium had broken loose, with Hogwarts students all around asking each other what was going to happen and who was going to be the Hogwarts champion.

On her end, Harry already _knew _who was going to be the champion for Hogwarts.

All throughout summer, as they continued to exchange letters, Cedric had often told her about how much he wanted to join the upcoming TriWizard Tournament this school year and how he knew that it would make his father proud. Of course, Harry had encouraged him and supported him all the way, and she knew that it was only a matter of time now before Cedric was chosen as their champion.

Harry was broken out of her thoughts by the smattering of applause all around her that indicated that the sorting ritual for the first years was finished, and Dumbledore was already stepping up onto the podium to make his customary welcoming speech. As always, the Hogwarts Headmaster smiled cheerfully at them and there was that definite twinkle in his eyes as he looked down and met their gazes.

"Welcome, welcome, welcome my dear students! Especially our guests tonight, of course. Let's all give them a warm round of applause again!" He encouraged, and he waited until the obligatory applause and smiles he got from the Great Hall had died down before he continued his speech.

Harry tried to keep her attention focused on him, and she listened as the Headmaster began by announcing the new rules and regulations Hogwarts had initiated for that school year, then something about their caretaker, Argus Filch, prohibiting the use of "screaming Yoyos" and "ever-bashing boomerangs" in the school. Seated across from her in the Gryffindor Table, the Weasley twins scowled when Dumbledore had looked at them as he said this, but soon, the Headmaster smiled and spoke on.

"Finally, I apologize for this dreadful announcement but I'm afraid that this year, the usual Quidditch Cup between our houses has been cancelled." The Headmaster paused again as soon as he heard the well-expected shouts and complaints from the student side of the Hall – and the loudest ones complaining were probably the Gryffindor Quidditch Team, as they were Quidditch champions last year.

"What?! But they can't do that! That's completely unfair!" Fred Weasley had wailed in front of Harry, and she couldn't help but agree with him as she frowned and glared up at Dumbledore again. Around them, the rest of the students – including the Slytherins – began shouting and yelling furious complaints at the Headmaster again but Dumbledore held up a hand to silence them, cutting them off.

"Now, now, my dear students… I'm sure you're all aware by now that there is a special event to be held in Hogwarts this year. And I assure all of you that this will be a very exciting and a very enjoyable school year – because this year, Hogwarts will be hosting the–" Dumbledore stopped when the entrance doors to the Great Hall suddenly burst open, drawing everyone's attention to the back of the room.

Whipping her head around, Harry watched with wide, curious eyes as a large, cloaked stranger suddenly slinked into the Hall, a loud 'clank' following him loudly with every step he took. Paying absolutely no heed to the stares and whispers all around him, the stranger walked up to the Staff table behind Dumbledore, and once he was completely in the light, the students gasped when they saw him.

The man's face was unlike anything they had ever seen – every inch of his skin marked with a scar and his nose missing a large chunk by the front. What was, perhaps, the most unsettling about his appearance were his eyes – or rather, his glass _eye – _which was currently whizzing about as it glanced around the Great Hall at the many student faces gaping at him. His other eye was normal, if not sharp and beady, and his hair was dark gray and frizzy, as though it had been ages since he had brushed it.

Ignoring the stares all around him, he walked calmly up to Dumbledore and shook his hand, talking to the Headmaster for a few seconds before Dumbledore smiled and gestured for him to take his seat at the Staff table. Once he sat down, the whispers and murmurs around the Hall started up again.

Ron turned to glance at Harry instantly and sharing a look, they both shrugged at each other before turning back to look at the man with gaping stares. Frowning in confusion, Hermione caught the look they had shared and leaned over to Harry, whispering into the other girl's ear to get her attention.

"Who's that?" She whispered, drawing Harry's attention as she turned to Hermione. Before she could answer, however, Dumbledore had spoken up again and had drawn all their gazes back to him.

"Before anything else, may I introduce our new Defense against the Dark Arts teacher this year… Professor Alastor Moody!" Dumbledore told them all cheerfully, suddenly breaking the stunned silence of the students in the Great Hall who had been watching since Professor Moody had entered.

As more whispers and murmurs broke out amongst the students again, Ron turned to look at Harry and met her wide-eyed look of surprise. "Bloody hell, they hired _Mad-Eye Moody _as our new DADA teacher?" He grinned and shook his head. "This is going to be one _interesting _school year, then."

"Who's Mad-Eye Moody?" Hermione had turned to Neville beside her, watching as the Gryffindor boy smiled back wryly at her and gestured to the front of the room where Professor Moody was seated. "He's only one of the most notable Aurors of his time, Hermione. " He began, pointing to the carved wooden leg attached to where Moody's left leg should have been under the long staff table.

Paling, Hermione lifted her gaze up from the leg to Moody's face again just as Neville continued. "My gran tells me that he's one of the greatest Aurors in the Ministry right now…And that the reason he relinquished the Head Auror position to Sirius Black was because he could no longer lead the department without putting the entire Ministry in danger given the reputation he's earned among a lot of Dark wizards. They all want to kill him, I wager." Neville shuddered as he said this, shaking his head.

Hermione wanted to ask him some more questions but fortunately, Harry had been listening in to Neville's comment and had leaned in towards them to add more. "Mad-Eye Moody was Sirius' mentor, you know…Back when he was still an Auror-in-training." She paused, her voice turning grim. "Sirius told me that the reason Moody lost his eye, his leg, and even all those scars he has on his face were the result of all the nasty encounters he had with a bout of Dark Wizards. Half the cells in Azkaban are filled thanks to him. The other half, I'd bet, are thanks to my Dad." Harry added with a rueful smile.

Ron nodded at her statement and added further. "He's become overly cautious and paranoid since then. Can't even drink from a goblet of juice without suspecting that someone's out to kill him. Look." He gestured to the front of the room again, and they all turned to watch as Professor Moody took out a hipflask, sniffed it a few times, before taking a long swig from it and setting it back into his robes.

Hermione shuddered at their stories, her eyes narrowing as she took in Moody's countenance.

"That's awful. I can't imagine living through life always having to worry about someone wanting to kill you." She commented idly, but she winced the minute she noticed Harry glaring pointedly at her.

"Thanks, Hermione." She said sarcastically, causing Hermione to wince and offer a guilty smile.

"I meant…Well…Sorry, Harry."

"Anyway, as I was saying–" They all turned back to listen as Dumbledore went on with his speech. "–this year, our very own Hogwarts is fortunate enough to be hosting the TriWizard Tournament…Which will be held with two other prestigious schools of this country, of course – Beauxbatons Academy and Durmstrang. We're very pleased to announce that we will be participating–"

"You're _JOKING!" _

Harry, Ron and Neville – as well as most of the Gryffindors – ended up laughing at the way Fred and George Weasley had both exclaimed out loud in excitement at Dumbledore's announcement, breaking through the Headmaster's speech. Thoroughly amused at their loud reactions, Dumbledore smiled back wryly at the Weasley twins before he nodded and turned to address the other students.

"I assure you I'm not, Mr. Weasley…" He answered good-naturedly, giving them all a bright smile. "The TriWizard Tournament was started more than seven hundred years ago. It's a friendly magical competition between the three largest schools in Europe, Hogwarts, Beauxbatons, and Durmstrang. Each school will be sending in a champion to represent them in the tournament." Dumbledore explained carefully, watching the reactions playing out on many of the students' faces.

"Now…Take note…The three schools originally alternated amongst themselves every five years to determine the tournament's host…But as the death toll had mounted so high back then, the Ministry decided to ban the tournament ten years ago." Dumbledore continued, and it was at this that Harry's eyes finally dawned in realization, thinking back on how busy her father had been with the preparations.

"Death toll?!" Hermione's eyes narrowed and she turned back to glare at Harry. Neither she, nor anyone else paid her much attention as the students began whispering amongst themselves again in their excitement. Even the Slytherins looked interested, and Harry sneaked a glance over at Cedric by the Hufflepuff table to see that her friend was looking even more determined about joining than ever.

"After years of trying to convince the Ministry and our dear Minister that no one is going to die this year – and as some of you may be aware, the Minister himself used to be a former TriWizard champion back in his day – " Dumbledore took that moment to pause again and smile at Harry across the room. "They have finally agreed for us to hold the tournament once again. And so, as our new friends have finally arrived, I do hope we all do our best to welcome them to our school. So… Do you have any questions?" Dumbledore ended his words with a bright, cheerful smile at everyone listening.

For a moment, it appeared as though everyone in the Great Hall was too busy buzzing with news about Dumbledore's announcement, but then a student from the Ravenclaw table suddenly yelled out.

"What's the prize?!"

Dumbledore chuckled at his question, and waited until everyone had quieted down before he answered. "I'm glad you asked that, Mr. Carmichael. The prize is the prestigious TriWizard cup, along with the glory of your school–" Ron and Neville made a face at this but their reactions were soon outmatched by the rest of Dumbledore's words. "–and lastly, a thousand galleons money." He finished.

"Bloody hell, I'm up for it! When is it then?" Fred Weasley suddenly yelled out, looking excitedly at his twin brother as the both of them nodded and exchanged an ecstatic high five in agreement.

Looking a little concerned, Dumbledore glanced at them before shaking his head. "I'm afraid, Mr. Weasley, that the Minister and I have made sure that no one below the age of _seventeen_ is allowed to enter the tournament. So please do not bother submitting your name if you are still underage." He told them, though his blue eyes were twinkling with good humor when he saw Fred and George's reactions.

"That's _rubbish! _You don't know what you're doing!" George Weasley exclaimed at this in outrage but before he could voice out anymore of his reaction, Dumbledore decided to continue further.

"So…As I said…I expect each and every one of you to give our guests a warm welcome. Those who are interested in joining–" Harry met Cedric's eyes from across the Hall and when he smiled briefly at her, she smiled back and nodded at him in encouragement. "–I shall be making further announcements about the tournament soon enough. So, let's all dig in now, shall we?" Dumbledore finished jovially as he sat back down and the food began to appear on the empty dishes before them.

Shaking her head, Harry was just about to reach across the table to retrieve a piece of chicken when she heard Neville complaining loudly as he was shoved to the side. Blinking, Harry turned to her left just in time to see Seamus Finnegan plopping himself down onto the seat Neville had been sitting on. Before she could ask him what in Merlin's name he was doing, the Irish Gryffindor gave her a flirty grin.

"So…Potter–" He began, and in spite of herself, Harriet could not help but lean backwards away from Seamus when he began leaning in a bit too closely for her liking. "–I heard from Ginny that you and Cedric weren't going out after all. Is that true?" He asked her, his smile growing when Harry narrowed her eyes suspiciously at him but nodded. "Yes…We aren't. Why do you ask?" She winced and began scooting further away from him when Seamus grinned and lean even closer toward her at her answer.

"Oh nothing at all, really. It's just that…I couldn't help but remember that one time you were asking me for help with your Irish mythology for History of Magic." Seamus, for his part, seemed completely oblivious to the way Ron, Dean, and Neville were trying – and failing – to hide their sniggers at his obviously failed attempts at winning over Harry's interest. In fact, Harry was short of scowling as she leaned away from him and was practically backing away into Hermione to avoid his looming face.

"–Seamus, I really don't think–" Harry winced in annoyance when Seamus raised his arm and attempted to wrap it in what he probably thought to be a 'discreet' manner around Harry's shoulders. "And I thought to myself, what better time to help you with that than this lovely evening? We could hang out together in the Common Room later after dinner…So what do you say?" Seamus grinned widely at her and tried to lean even closer towards her again but apparently, Harriet had enough.

Without warning and paying no attention to the fact that practically everyone seated around the Gryffindor table was watching them, she placed her hand over the arm Seamus had wrapped around her and twisted – causing the Irish Gryffindor to squeak in pain as he was forced to yank his arm away.

"Ow ow ow ow, Harry, wait! I take it back, I didn't mean it, I'm sorry!" Seamus began to whine incessantly, his face flushing bright red when he heard the laughter of their housemates around them. Narrowing her eyes, Harry growled warningly and twisted his arm again, causing him to whine louder. "W–wait, I'm sorry! I really am, I didn't mean it! Will you let me go now?!" He whimpered loudly, his features scowling furiously when he saw Dean and Neville laughing hysterically at him across the table.

Once Seamus had quieted down and offered Harry a wide, pleading smile, she finally narrowed her eyes and relinquished the death grip on his arm. Still wincing and cradling his poor, mangled arm to his chest, Seamus let out an exasperated sigh and looked up at Ron and Hermione's smirking faces.

"Jeez…Still a wolf…Just looks like a pretty sheep." He commented idly to himself. "I figure it won't be long until this lovely little flower falls for my manly charms." He added, giving Harry a wink.

At his words, Harry saw red immediately and jumped up from her seat with raised fists.

"_YOU WANT TO REPEAT WHAT YOU JUST SAID TO MY FIST, FINNEGAN?!"_

"I suggest you run now, Seamus." Neville interjected quickly, shoving the other boy out of his seat. Fortunately, Seamus didn't need telling twice as he bolted out of there immediately – oblivious to the loud laughter that rang out around the Gryffindor table as everyone watched a fuming, red-faced Harriet Potter, skirt and all, chase a frantic and panicked Seamus Finnegan right out of the Great Hall.

* * *

To Harry's surprise, it turns out that what Tonks had told her about boys had been right all along.

Since the school year had begun, ever since Harry had started fixing herself up more – paying more attention to her hair and appearance and reluctantly wearing the clothes that Hadriana had picked out for her, she realized that the boys around school have been treating her more and more differently.

She first noticed it with the simple way Ernie Macmillan had automatically opened the door for her when she was walking behind him on her way to the Great Hall – something that he had _definitely _never done for her before. That same day, without any prompting on her part, Dean Thomas had offered to give her an extra roll of parchment when she had just about run out during their Transfiguration class. Then a few days after, Cormac Maclaggen – who up until now had been avoiding her like the plague since the time she had punched him in the nose in front of everyone in the Great Hall – offered to carry her school bag for her while they had been on their way back to Gryffindor Tower.

And if all _that _hadn't been enough to drive Harriet over the edge, things had started to _really _freak her out when even Slytherins boys like Blaise Zabini and Draco Malfoy had begun acting strangely around her as well – with Zabini giving her one of his expensive quills during Potions and Malfoy stopping behind her in the library and easily reaching up to help her retrieve a book she had been trying to reach from a high book shelf. When Harriet turned back around and gaped at him – and she remembered distinctly that she had been wearing a short, flowing skirt that day – Malfoy had just smirked at her and said, "Don't mind me, Potter. I was just looking for a glimpse of the golden snitch."

It took a few seconds of Harry staring at him in confusion before she got the full meaning of what he said – and when she did, instead of punching him or insulting him like she normally would have, she blushed like an errant schoolgirl and dashed away, hugging her book protectively against her chest.

It was almost as if all the boys in school were only realizing _now _that she was actually a _girl_.

"I'm telling you, Harry!" Lee Jordan, one of the Gryffindor sixth years and a close friend of the Weasley twins, explained to Harry and Hermione as they were making their way down to the Common Room. "Guys will not normally go out of their way to be nice to a girl or help her out! In fact, the only reason a guy _would _voluntarily help a non-friend girl out is because he wants to get into her pants!" He insisted with a knowing, superior smile but Harry and Hermione had blatantly refused to believe him.

And it didn't even end there.

In particular, Harry noticed Draco Malfoy _had _been acting more and more strangely around her since the school year had started. In fact, she almost _wished _that she could have the old Malfoy back.

Strangely, the blonde wasn't nearly as mean or horrible as he was back in third year and to her confusion, none of the things he did now were as painful or destructive as the things he used to do to her. But in truth, Harriet found his current perverted antics toward her now infinitely more annoying_._

The loud insult matches and physical fights he used to start with her along the school hallways had lessened considerably – in fact, none to date this year. She also noticed that he had begun to hover around her – a lot. He sat or stood behind her during class, poked her or tickled her waist whenever she passed him in the school hallways, earning himself a sharp nudge from her or hissed insult in the process.

Sometimes he would annoy her during class by throwing paper at the back of her head or leaning in close and then blowing directly into her ear, causing her to squeal in shock in the middle of the lesson.

Just the other day, Malfoy had pushed his antics further when he had leaned in close to her in the middle of McGonagall's lecture, hooked a finger behind the strap of her bra underneath her thin white blouse, yanked a few inches and then let go. The resounding '_**SNAP!' **_of the elastic against her back caused Harry to screech in shock, which in turn had sent Malfoy and his friends into loud hysterics.

One of the _worst _and most _annoying _things he had done in the past week, however, had been during Potions. Harry had just stood up and was on her way over to one of the ingredient cabinets near the back of the class when she had passed Malfoy behind her and he bent down, seemingly picking up something he dropped. On her way back to her seat, Harry noticed that he was grinning widely but thinking he was trying to get her attention again, she ignored him and walked past him. What she _didn't _realize, however, was that Malfoy had placed a small mirror just in her path and as she walked by him, the mirror had given the smirking blonde a _very _good view of the black, lace knickers she was wearing.

Needless to say, it was the first detention Snape had given her that year for punching a Slytherin.

Nevertheless, the most unsettling of all the male attention she had received by far that year was still from Cedric Diggory_. _The Hufflepuff's recent behavior confused Harry thoroughly as he busied himself this past week in making sure he carried her bag and accompanied her to all of her morning classes, meeting her everyday for a few minutes before lunch, before dinner, and then spending about an hour talking to her and asking her about her day before they both went off to sleep in their dorms.

She had written to Sirius about it first, asking him for advice but to her frustration, all her godfather had been able to tell her so far was, in his very colorful words, "How dare that scheming bastard think he can cozy up to my goddaughter like that?! Ignore the bloody jerk, Harry! You're way too young to be thinking about boys right now, and I'll not allow it! That's enough about boys from you!"

Rolling her eyes, Harry had stuffed the letter back in its envelope and fell back against her bed with a sigh. Shaking her head, she stared up at the ceiling of the girls' dormitory in thought, thinking back on everything that had progressed about her and Cedric's relationship since the party that summer.

True to his words, Cedric hadn't brought up their discussion during the Ministry party again, and Harry was sure that he wasn't going to broach the subject again until Harry herself had initiated it. He was sweet that way, Cedric, and his constant thoughtfulness and concern for her feelings was one of the things that Harry admired most about him. Though Harry had to admit, she _was _still nervous and uncertain about the way Cedric seemed to be allowing more of his affections for her to show in public. He would hold her hand as they walked down the hall together, and she noticed him frowning more and more whenever he saw Seamus trying to snake his arm around Harry's shoulders during mealtimes.

And though Harry would _never _admit it to anyone – not to Hermione, not even to herself – it did give her a strange warm, fuzzy feeling in the pit of her stomach during the times she caught Cedric frowning at Seamus, Dean, or even Ron and Neville whenever they got too close to her. Above anything else, _that _fuzziness was what confused her most of all because she had no idea how she felt about him.

Their friends, both from Gryffindor and Hufflepuff, were definitely starting to get suspicious – that much was for sure – and Hermione was even beginning to accuse her of lying about nothing going on between them. For his part, Cedric wasn't denying anything about their rumored relationship – but he wasn't confirming anything either and that gave Harry the leverage she needed to decide for herself.

Though she knew that at some point, she was going to have to find out for herself if she really did like him, she couldn't help but feel that she owed herself a chance to try it out least – and the only way she would be able to do that was if she finally answered Cedric and confirmed their dating status.

"_Cedric's a good kid…And quite a cute boy. Maybe you should consider giving him a chance. It wouldn't hurt you to be a girl once in awhile you know…Go on and let yourself be happy sometimes."_

Thinking back on Tonks' words brought a reluctant smile to Harry's face and so, with that nervously wracking her mind, she fidgeted around nervously as she waited for Cedric in their usual meeting spot just by the entrance to the Quidditch pitch. To her surprise, the Hufflepuff was unusually late, and after glancing at her watch a few times and noting that it was 9:35, Cedric finally appeared from the hallway – looking slightly out of breath as he smiled at her and quickly raced to where she was.

"Sorry! I'm really sorry I'm late, Harry." He winced and paused to take a few intakes of breath as he stopped beside her, a small white box tucked underneath his other arm. Curious, Harry raised an eyebrow at this and when Cedric followed her gaze, he grinned sheepishly and opened the box – allowing Harry to see what was inside. To her delight, stuffed inside the box was a selection of all her favorite pastries from the Hogwarts kitchen and at this, she couldn't help smiling back at him in earnest.

"Oh you…I knew it. Are you making it your personal life mission to make me fat before the end of the school year?" She teased as he led her over to the usual bench they sat in – the one overlooking the Quidditch pitch – and plopped down on it with a grin. Shaking his head, he patted the space beside him and waited until Harry had scooted herself closer to him before he held the box up to her again.

"Harry, you could be the fattest girl in the world and you'd still be the most beautiful." He quipped at her and at this; Harry couldn't resist blushing and making a face at him in mock disdain.

"Diggory, you have _got _to do better than that." Harry commented dryly, causing the older teen to laugh and shrug as he watched her take a chocolate pastry from the box in his hand. "In all seriousness though, you look very pretty tonight." He told her, though after he had spoken he managed a laugh and shook his head. "Well, you look pretty _every _night but you look particularly beautiful tonight. I think it's because it's the first time I saw you smile like that since this summer." He commented softly.

Blushing slightly at his words, Harry used the momentary distraction of the chocolate pastry in her hand to avoid looking at him, though she could feel Cedric's intense gaze on her as she answered. "I didn't _have _a reason to smile since this summer…Until now, that is." She blushed darker as soon as she heard the words leaving her lips but to her surprise, Cedric looked confused and watched her curiously.

"Why is that…?" He asked, taking a pastry for himself and nibbling distractedly on it for a few moments as Harry stammered and hurriedly tried to think of what to say. The opening was perfect – she could have admitted to him everything she wanted to say right now but for the life of her, she could _not _form the right words to say. Before she knew it, she had laughed instead and began to ramble endlessly.

"Oh well…You know…With school starting and all that. Being with my friends… Getting to hang around everyone again and anticipating the new school year… Of course, I don't really look forward to all the workload we'd have to be doing and I hate the fact that Quidditch's cancelled but then–" Harry blinked rapidly and tried desperately to think of a way to break herself out of her own endless talking.

Fortunately, Cedric didn't appear to mind her rushed words and he smiled affectionately at her, nodding encouragingly for her to keep talking. Swallowing the lump in her throat, a bead of sweat had fallen down the side of her face as she struggled to think of how she could possibly tell him what she felt.

"–there's the tournament to look forward to, I guess…Oh and the fact that everyone thinks we're a couple is a little strange and…great…too, in a way–" She paused for a minute, and out of the corner of her eye she saw that Cedric had paused as well and was now staring intently at her as though waiting for her next words. "—and I've been telling myself that I ought to be correcting them for it. Since we're not exactly boyfriend and girlfriend yet…_Officially, _I mean…But then, I thought to myself–" Harry's voice had softened now and she had lifted her eyes and stared at him, smiling at the way his eyes lit up.

"–would being Cedric Diggory's girlfriend _really _be that bad…?" At this, she couldn't help smiling in amusement at the way Cedric's eyebrows had arched and the way he blushed at her teasing words. "We'd be the center of media attention, sure…And everybody we know in school is bound to think we're just together for another political stunt. But that's not it at all, no…" Harry bit her lip and finally, she set the pastry she held in her hand back down into the box so she could intertwine their fingers together.

"I think…I've been smiling more now…Because…I genuinely really _do _like you too, Ced–" Harry tried to ignore the way her heart had fluttered happily at the devastatingly handsome smile Cedric had given her at her words. "–and I think I'm…_ready…_to give this…_thing–" _Harry laughed nervously as she gestured her finger back and forth between them. "–whatever it is we have going on between us, a chance." She finally blinked and looked up, meeting Cedric's blue gray eyes with a shy, hesitant smile.

"So I guess, what I'm trying to say is…If your offer still stands, Ced–" She bit her lip but leaned forward, stopping just as her face was inches away from his. "–I would _love _to be your girlfriend." She told him softly, and she smiled at him again when Cedric appeared to be staring at her with a dazed look on his face. She hesitated for a few seconds at this, trying to decide for herself if she should push through with what she had planned, but sure enough, just as Cedric blinked and was about to speak, Harry closed her eyes and took that opportunity to lean forward, pressing her mouth sweetly against his.

She pulled away the instant their lips had made contact and then, she could do nothing else but blush horribly and stare wide-eyed up at the older teen with a look of embarrassment on her face. For a few terrifying minutes, Harry was almost afraid that Cedric was going to laugh at her and mock her for her obvious inexperience with kissing but to her surprise, the Hufflepuff's expression suddenly softened and he smiled back slowly at her, his eyes filled with warmth and his cheeks flushed with exhilaration.

Breathing heavily, he leaned forward until their foreheads were resting against each other and reverently, he closed his eyes and raised a hand, using it to stroke the hair away from her cheek. When he opened his eyes again and stared at her, Harry couldn't help but shiver at the heat she saw in his gaze.

"Wow." Was all he whispered, but before Harry could even begin to understand what he meant, she gasped in surprise when Cedric suddenly leaned forward, wrapping an arm tightly her waist and pulling her against him. Grinning, he didn't give her any more of a chance to react before he had already leaned down, stopping just as their lips were centimeters apart before he uttered in a husky whisper.

"My turn."

* * *

Harry floated back to Gryffindor tower on a cloud that night, and even bumping into Professor Snape along the way – and earning herself a detention for the trouble – hadn't been enough to dampen her spirits. She entered the Common Room with a goofy, foolish grin on her face and as she expected, Hermione and Ginny were on her instantly, laughing, giggling and demanding to know what happened.

She hadn't really given her friends much of an opportunity to guess, however, because as soon as anyone had asked, Harry had just smiled stupidly at them and confirmed what everyone else knew.

_Harriet Potter was Cedric's Diggory's girlfriend. _

_Cedric Diggory was Harriet Potter's boyfriend. _

_Harriet Potter and Cedric Diggory were dating. _

No matter _which _way she thought about it and twisted the words around, it sounded better each time and it brought Harry back to that happy, lovesick place. In fact, she was so happy that Harry was almost certain that should Remus have forced her to cast another 'Expecto Patronum' charm, she would have been able to produce a silvery white stag that was the size of the entire Hogwarts Castle.

Ron and Neville had made a face the minute she had told them, and as she expected, Fred and George Weasley had responded by grinning at her and prancing loudly around the Common Room.

"_Harry and Ced-wic…Kissing in a tree…K-I-S-S-I-N-G!" _Fred grinned as he stopped in front of the armchair Harry was glaring at him from and leaned down, pretending to make loud kissy faces at her.

"_First comes love…Then comes marriage…Then comes Harry with a baby carriage!" _Fred, George, and Lee Jordan had all burst out laughing at their childish antics. Truthfully, Harry had even preferred their reactions over the reactions of her other housemates. Colin Creevey and his brother Dennis had irked her when they had burst into tears upon finding out, and in the usual creepy way that only stalkers knew how, Colin had reacted by stomping up to her and hurling all the pictures he had of her at her face.

Harry had _definitely _not been amused.

She hadn't written to her father or her godfather yet about what had happened, either, though she wasn't exactly eager to go about it anyway. Instead, Harry figured that James and Sirius were bound to figure it out on their own anyway, and once they did, _then _she would deal with their reactions. She _had, _however, owled Tonks and Remus the same night she had accepted Cedric's proposal and while Tonks was ecstatic for her, Remus expressed his usual fatherly reservations – but wished her the best.

Thankfully, once all of the news and excitement about her and Cedric becoming a couple had died down – both in the Gryffindor _and _Hufflepuff Common Rooms –Harry's normal day-to-day schedule had pretty much resumed. She would attend her classes in the morning, meet up and have lunch with Cedric at noon before heading off to her afternoon classes, hang out with either Hermione or Ron and Neville in the evenings before dinner, and then spend a few cozy moments with Cedric before bedtime.

One of her more amusing afternoons was when she had been spending her time with Hermione in the library, helping her friend get some research done for one of their assignments. The afternoon had started off normal enough, with Harry and Hermione bustling over a horde of thick textbooks while people went in and out the library doing their usual business. It had only been when none other than _Viktor Krum _entered the room – followed by an entire _horde _of his fan girls – that Hermione had begun to scowl and muttering darkly under her breath as flipped furiously through her books in annoyance.

Harry watched her in amusement as the brown-haired Gryffindor grumbled on and on about how Viktor Krum was nothing but an insensitive git who broke the 'sanctity' of the library by daring to bring his fan girls there and disrupt everyone else's studying. When Harry had bluntly pointed out to Hermione that she was, in fact, the _only _one who studied there during the afternoon, her friend had glared angrily at her, huffed, and stomped away, leaving Harry gaping after her in bewildered shock.

Evidently, Harry's unwilling involvement with her friends' troubles didn't stop there.

The following afternoon, just as she was hanging out with Ron and Neville in the Gryffindor Common Room over a game of exploding snap, Ron had surprised her when he started ranting on and on about how Hermione's constant nagging was beginning to annoy him. When Neville and Harry had innocently teased him about it, Ron had flushed horribly and glared at them as though they were daft.

"Are you two _mental?! _I'd sooner like a rat than that emotional nerd!" He scowled and stomped away, and Harry exasperatedly asked herself why her friends were walking off on her a lot these days.

* * *

Harry was thoroughly relieved when about two weeks after the arrival of Beauxbatons and Durmstrang, and Dumbledore's announcement of the TriWizard Tournament, the Headmaster had followed this up by announcing to all the students over dinner just how _exactly _the TriWizard champions were to be chosen. The process, as far as Harry understood, involved submitting your name and school into the _"Goblet of Fire", _a goblet that Dumbledore had taken out in the middle of his explanation.

As she listened to the Headmaster's discussion, Harry noted that the Goblet of Fire looked just like any other goblet she had seen – except for the fact that it was made of gold and it had blue flames emanating from its mouth. Once Dumbledore had explained the process of selection to everyone – that an interested candidate was to submit his name to the Goblet and by next week, the Goblet would be magically choosing a champion from each school – Harry looked up and met Cedric's gaze with a smile.

Thus, when the day had come for Cedric to submit his name into the Goblet of Fire, Harriet had expected that her boyfriend would be excited about the upcoming tournament. What she _hadn't _expected, however, was that Cedric actually looked _nervous _as they walked towards the Great Hall that morning and Harry was more than surprised when instead of leading her to where the other students had gathered around the Goblet of Fire, he shook his head and yanked her outside towards the gardens.

Once outside, he sighed and leaned his head against her as he mumbled out in a miserable voice. "Harry, I know I should be looking forward to the tournament and all that…And I've been training for this the entire summer, but…I have to tell you…I'm a bit nervous." He bit his lip and looked up, managing a crooked smile at Harry when she seemed to look at him in surprise. "I just don't know if…I can take the rejection. I mean, what if the goblet doesn't choose me? I don't know if I can handle the humiliation."

Harry sighed at him in exasperation, removing his hands from his hair and holding them in her own. She blew away the strands of hair that had been falling over her eyes and pointedly shook her head at him, a teasing smile on her face as she reached up and poked the taller teen lightly on the nose.

"Cedric, you have _got _this tournament in the palm of your hand, okay? I doubt there's even a single person in Hogwarts that Goblet would dare to choose over you. I know that, the Hufflepuffs know that, and I think even Dumbledore does. This is _your _tournament. You've got this." She smiled back up at him when Cedric's shoulders seemed to relax at her words and he nodded, managing a small smile back.

"I got this." He agreed, and after giving her a grateful smile and quick kiss to the cheek, he took her hand in his again and led her carefully back into the Great Hall. As soon as they were inside, Harry felt more than a dozen pairs of student eyes following them instantly but she ignored them and watched, patiently, as Cedric led them to the front of the Hall where the Goblet was glowing an eerie, bright blue.

When Cedric stopped just before reaching the Goblet, Harry caught sight of a pair of white-haired, bearded students yelling and wrestling angrily with each other just inside the age-line circle.

"_You said this would work!" _Fred yelled at George as he tackled his twin brother to the ground.

"_Well it was 'your' lame idea!" _George yelled back, and before long, the two bearded Weasleys were entangled in an amusing wrestling match that those watching couldn't tell which twin was which.

As soon as Harry realized that the white-bearded figures were, in fact, Fred and George Weasley, she joined the laughter of the other watching students – and even Cedric had managed to crack an amused smile. After the Weasley twins were ushered out of the room by Dumbledore and the Hall of students around them had quieted again, Cedric took a step forward towards the age line and paused, swallowing the lump in his throat. Then, after glancing back quickly at Harry's encouraging smile and giving her another kiss on the cheek, Cedric let go of her hand and walked solemnly up to the goblet.

Raising his hand, he tightened his fingers around the paper containing his name carefully, before he nodded once and tossed the slip into the Goblet of Fire's bright blue flames. In response, the goblet seemed to flicker and glow brightly for a few seconds – as though processing the information – then within a few seconds, the flames had dimmed again and Cedric let out a sigh of relief as he turned back around and smiled at his cheering and applauding Hufflepuff housemates. Beside them, Harry was also cheering and clapping as well, though she _did _have to stand there for a while longer than she would have liked as she waited awkwardly until Cedric had finished talking and laughing happily with all of his friends before he finally walked back over to her. Then, rewarding her with his handsome smile, he took her hand in his again, raised it to his lips to give it a kiss before he nodded and led her towards the exit.

They were just about to make it through the Hall doors when a small group of Slytherin students suddenly sauntered into the Hall from the opposite side, causing Harry and Cedric to freeze in surprise.

"–and so then I told my father of course that I wasn't going to stand for that rubbish and do you what he said?" Draco Malfoy was laughing loudly as he led Pansy, Crabbe, Goyle and a few other Slytherins into the Great Hall, his arm was wrapped around Pansy's waist as they walked. "He said that he could get those jerks expelled from the school if I liked. My father _is _a patron of this wretched school, you know. They _have _to do what he says." Malfoy continued to brag as he shoved through the doors, oblivious to Harry and Cedric as they politely tried to maneuver their way around his large entourage.

When they realized that the group was _much _too large and that they would have to wait for them to pass, Harry sighed in annoyance and snapped, ignoring the way Cedric nudged her in warning.

"Malfoy, if you could stop emitting all that hot air for one _minute, _would you mind letting us _through? _You're blocking the way." Harry growled, her anger getting the best of her in that moment.

The minute he had recognized her voice, Malfoy's silver eyes had snapped up to her face instantly and the initial surprise in the Slytherin's expression slowly gave way to amusement. Failing to notice Cedric standing beside Harry, Malfoy's arm seemed to have automatically unwrapped itself from Pansy's waist and he smirked at her, one his eyebrows arching teasingly as he spoke in a loud voice.

"Why hello, Potter…Any golden snitches today?"

The blonde had anticipated Harriet's blushing response instantly and when he did, he grinned cheekily back and stepped toward her, his eyes gleaming as they lingered over her slim, fitted dress. "I'm a seeker, you know…I wouldn't mind searching for the golden snitch once in awhile." He added in a deliberately playful tone of voice that caused the blush on Harry's face to darken even more in dismay.

Backing away, Harry found herself trying to hide her blushing face away from Malfoy's smirk.

"Sh–shut up–"

"What are you on about, Malfoy?" Frowning warningly at the younger boy, Cedric finally called Malfoy's attention to him for the first time since the conversation had started. Visibly startled at the tall Hufflepuff's presence, Malfoy's eyes suddenly widened as they riveted to him and for a few minutes, it was almost as though the Slytherin had been caught off guard that he couldn't think of what to say.

Finally, when Pansy forcibly caught her boyfriend's attention by impatiently whining and tugging on his arm, Malfoy seemed to snap back to his senses. He smirked at first, looking as though he was about to reward Cedric with an insult but to Harry's surprise, when the blonde's eyes had dropped down to her and Cedric's intertwined hands, the smirk on his face froze and a dazed, disbelieving expression crossed his face. He stood there for a few minutes, blinking dazedly at Harry and Cedric's intertwined hands until Harry couldn't take it anymore and, she yanked her hand away from Cedric and snapped.

"Malfoy, will you get out of our way?!"

Blinking himself out of his daze, Malfoy suddenly cast a dark, withering glare at Harry again before he turned to Cedric and gave him with a particularly vicious, hateful sneer. "How sweet…The Ministry now has another cutesy poster couple to distract the brainless public from their shortcomings." Malfoy's eyes hardened, and Cedric almost recoiled at the absolute hatred he saw flashing in his eyes.

The Slytherin sneered malevolently at Cedric again before he turned and leveled his angry, blazing glare at Harry. "How utterly predictable of your father, Potter…You and your politics. Is he campaigning for his next term already?" He mocked in disgust before turning away, shaking his head at them. "So it turns out that you _are_ doing what your father wants you to do. You disgust me, Potter!"

Harry was confused for a minute, especially with the sudden rekindling of all that hatred in his words after not having heard it for so long but before she could say anything else, Malfoy had already turned back to his friends and wrapped his arm around Pansy's waist again. "Come on, you guys. Let's get out of here. We wouldn't want to intrude on the Ministry of Magic's new poster couple." He sneered at them again before he took off, leaving Harry gaping after his retreating form in stunned confusion.

Turning back to Cedric, she smiled weakly when he shrugged at her and gave her an amused grin.

"So…lunch?"

* * *

**A/N: **Don't you all just think that a perverted, fourteen year old Draco is adorable? :laughs and shrugs: Okay, I guess not but it _was _ funny to write! (^_^) Please forgive the brief CD/femHP scenes I wrote in here, but I seem to have a soft spot for that Hufflepuff and I just can't let Harry reject him like that. This is _still _a DM/femHP fic, I promise. It will just take a while for Harry to warm up to Draco. (^_^)

**Next Chapter: **the TriWizard Champions, how do you all think Cedric will react when Harry's name is pulled out of that Goblet? How do you think James will react? Or Sirius? Or Remus? Dun-dun-dun!

Do tell me your thoughts about this one; I really need your feedback about this story, yeah? Please don't forget to review! Until next time! :D


	5. The Fourth Champion

**Harriet Potter and the Minister of Magic **

**Disclaimer:** I don't own Harry Potter or any of the characters you recognize from the HP books in this story. All I own is the plot. Everything else belongs to JK Rowling.

**Pairings**: DM/femHP (eventual). CD/femHP. RW/HG. BZ/GW. JP/LP (past). SS/LP (one-sided).

**Warnings:** Spoilers from canon (Books 4 to 7). Occasional time jumps from chapter to chapter. Mature content later on.

**Notes: **I'll admit that this is a pretty long chapter. I didn't expect that it would end up this long when I wrote it, but the story just seemed to take on a life of its own these days. In any case, I really liked how this chapter turned out so I hope you guys enjoy reading it too. Enjoy! :D

* * *

**Chapter 5 – The Fourth Champion**

In the month that followed, Harry found herself alternating her time between hanging out with her friends and spending time with Cedric; which on their own, took a lot more out of her than she expected. She discovered that the Hufflepuff was a lot more popular and high profile than she realized, and more often than not, she was struggling to adjust to his fast-paced, busy schedule.

Their days became routine – Cedric would have breakfast with her in the morning before running off to do a quick jog around the Quidditch Pitch. He'd meet up with his fellow Prefects in between classes, grab a bite for lunch with his very large group of Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw friends in the afternoon, then take off to do his Prefect duties around the school. He'd finally meet up with her again after dinner. Then, though he'd also ask her about her day, they mostly ended up talking about _his _– what _he _did that day, how much _he _accomplished, and what else he wanted to do.

Normally, Harry wouldn't have _minded _that Cedric did all of these extracurricular activities and hoarded all of these responsibilities – since he did, in fact, genuinely enjoy them and they seemed very healthy for his personality. What actually _irked _Harry, however, was that she was getting the hint that Cedric was somehow _expecting _that she rearrange her schedule around _his._

She had broached the subject one morning, just after breakfast, when Cedric had leaned over, given her a kiss and told her that he wouldn't be able to help her study that afternoon because he was going to play Quidditch with his friends. Harry hadn't minded of course, and she had even smiled back, wished him good luck and told him that she'd just hang out with Ron and Neville. To her surprise, however, Cedric had suddenly frowned at her when she said this and quietly hinted that it would really mean a lot to him if she would be there anyway and cheer for him during the game.

When Harry had looked at him in dismay, Cedric admitted – with that oh-so-gently-imploring smile of his – that he wouldn't be able to play his best without his one source of inspiration there to cheer him on and support him through the game. Harry _still _would have protested at this, but then Cedric also added that he _needed _her there with him, otherwise he would completely lose it and fall apart under all the pressure. Disconcerted at this, Harry had offered to drop by the game instead to wish him good luck but Cedric had shook his head and insisted that he _needed_ her therewith him.

Sighing, Harry had reluctantly agreed – but the effect this had on their relationship took a serious turn, and she realized that, like it or not, her boyfriend was actually a lot more insecure than she thought. Cedric soon began asking her to rearrange her schedule for him _all the time, _to the point that Harry found it exhausting that she had to be there, _supporting _him, _every _time he was studying for an exam, leading a meeting, anticipating the TriWizard Tournament, or even something as simple as playing a friendly game of Quidditch with his friends. In fact, Harry was beginning to suspect that Cedric's behavior was slowly developing into an unhealthy kind of _dependency _on her, but she couldn't really blame him given all the pressure and media attention focused on him lately.

Not surprisingly, it also _irked _Harry that this dependency-support thing developing between them seemed to be a bit one-sided – often it was _her _making all the schedule adjustments for Cedric when he himself does nothing but apologize to her whenever she asks him to do the same for her.

In all other aspects, Cedric was actually a model boyfriend – smart, handsome, loyal and very affectionate. He would often kiss her or hold her hand in public, make constant declarations about how beautiful she was in front of everyone, and even walk to her class or carry her bag at every possible opportunity. In fact, Ron often complained a lot about how irritatingly perfect her boyfriend was, and though she had defended Cedric, sometimes, she couldn't help but feel irritated too.

She wrote to Tonks about this one time, as Harry would never dare ask her father, Sirius or Remus about boyfriend troubles. In her letter, she wrote about her initial concerns about her relationship with Cedric, and about how things were going so far, but the female Auror had just laughed and told her that her worries were okay and were quite normal for first time relationships.

Thankfully, Cedric's dependency issues, and the fact that he seemed to share a close friendship with Cho Chang, were the only two things Harry was having trouble adjusting to. For the most part, she _was _actually happy with the way that things were panning out for the two of them.

The few times that she wasn't hanging out with Ron, Neville, Hermione, or Cedric, Harry was usually cramming between breaks for her classes. It didn't help things that her grandfather had warned her about improving her grades before she took her OWLs next year. As she expected, her Transfiguration class with McGonagall was one of the hardest, along with her normal Potions troubles with Snape. Harry was at least happy that this year, Hagrid was generally improving with his lessons for Care of Magical Creatures – though she wasn't particularly fond of Blast Ended Skrewts.

Defense against the Dark Arts was still her strongest subject, of course, and things certainly took a positive direction in her favor when she realized that their new teacher, Professor Moody, seemed to favor her during class. As it happens, the Gryffindors shared their DADA lessons with the Slytherins – and ever since Malfoy had insulted her and Cedric in the Great Hall a few weeks ago, the snake lot had become more vicious than ever. His perverted antics towards her had stopped and he began calling her names again, shoving her away or tripping her when she passed him in the hall.

It made things easier for her, at least, since Harry could now go back to fighting with her Slytherin rival again instead of squeaking or blushing like a girl whenever he teased her like he did when school had first started. Though Harry _did _sense that Malfoy's antagonism towards her was being fueled by something else, she was mostly grateful things were back to normal between them.

Thus, it was at the height of her day-to-day exhaustion from everything that Harry entered the Great Hall that morning, only to smile brightly and race to the front of the room as soon as she had recognized the familiar frame of the tall, sleek-haired man seated at the Hogwarts staff table.

"_SIRIUS!"_

She shouted with laughter as she ran up to her godfather and threw her arms around him in a bone-crushing hug, causing the Head Auror to exclaim as he was nearly knocked off his seat. Laughing and rolling his eyes at his goddaughter's exuberance, Sirius grinned at her as soon as Harry had released him and reached up, taking that opportunity to give her hair an affectionate ruffle.

"Kiddo, you have _got _to stop startling me like that! I do have a reputation as Head Auror to uphold, what do you think people will say when they see me always caught off guard by my own goddaughter?" He kidded, laughing when Harry sat herself down beside him and made a face.

"Oh please…I have never startled you once in my entire _life, _Sirius. Each time I snuck up on you, you _knew _I was there from a _mile _away." She grinned knowingly and stuck her tongue out at him. "Just admit that you like being hugged by your favorite goddaughter." She teased him lightly.

Sirius snorted at this, rolling his eyes at her smug expression. "You're my _only _goddaughter, you git. I have nobody else to favor _but _you." He retorted but in spite of himself, he was grinning at her again and shaking his head at her antics. "Why do you look so surprised to see me, anyway? Didn't your Dad tell you?" He asked her, looking surprised at Harry's genuinely confused expression.

"Tell me what?" She asked, fusing her eyebrows at him in question.

Before Sirius could respond, he looked up just as another tall figure approached them and following his gaze, Harry soon found herself staring at her father's familiar, slightly sheepish grin.

"That we were going to be visiting you today, of course." James was smiling as he approached his daughter, but his expression faltered slightly when he saw the way Harry was frowning at him and the way she seemed to have moved away from him in visible discomfort.

Noticing her reaction, Sirius frowned at the two for a few seconds before he hastily stood up and forced a laugh, slinking an arm around Harry's shoulders and pulling her closer to James. "Originally, Dumbledore had invited Barty Crouch over instead to be the one to announce the champions today, little Prongs. But your father here–" He nudged James, causing the other man to wince but nod reluctantly in agreement. "–_insisted _that he be the one to make the announcement instead. Something about needing an excuse to see his little girl." Sirius glared pointedly at him until James finally ducked his head and sighed in defeat, hesitantly giving Harry an embarrassed smile.

"That's…_true, _actually." He admitted when Harry seemed to be glaring back at Sirius in disbelief, drawing her attention back to him. "I didn't really intend to be the one here tonight; I just wanted to visit you." James watched her reaction for a few seconds before giving Sirius a wry grin.

"Of course when Sirius learned that I was going to Hogwarts, he decided to tag along after me." He added, and this time, Harry couldn't help scoffing at the affronted look Sirius gave James.

"Hey I resent that, Prongs. Tell her the truth! The only reason I'm here right now with you is because you need a personal bodyguard to protect your pathetic arse." He remarked, eliciting a genuine laugh from Harry this time when James glared weakly at him and rolled his eyes at his antics.

"I'm at a school, you prat. How much protection could I possibly need?" He pointed out in annoyance before he sighed and turned back to give Harry a hesitant smile. "Prongslet… You feeling up for a short walk outside in the gardens?" James paused when he saw Harry stiffen in reluctance but before she could say anything, he spoke again. "Dinner won't be starting for another half hour or so anyway… I was thinking you could tell me about your first few weeks." He suggested hopefully.

Sighing, Harry tried to remind herself for a few moments that she was still supposed to be mad at James for not bringing her to the station several weeks ago – not even counting the fact that she was still mad at him for the way he reacted at her question about her mom during the Ministry party. As he glanced down at her, however, with his all-too-familiar apologetic grimace and the way he was currently scuffling his feet in front of her like a remorseful teenager instead of the Minister of Magic, Harry eventually sighed in defeat and nodded reluctantly at him, managing a weak smile.

"Ten minutes, Dad." Harry pretended to imitate the way James would so often intone at her whenever she bothered him in the middle of work back at home. In spite of himself, James grinned at the way she copied his voice, his shoulders sagging with relief when he finally saw Harry smiling.

"Not a _second _more." He agreed, chuckling.

Taking his outstretched hand, Harry nudged Sirius lightly as a gesture of gratitude – to which the Head Auror responded to by rolling his eyes and waving them off – before she finally allowed James to lead her away from the Great Hall towards the gardens. Once they were outside, safely away from the prying eyes of all the other Hogwarts students watching them, Harry finally pulled her hand free from her father's grasp and looked up at him, forcing him to stop in the middle of walking.

"What are you doing here, Dad?" She asked him bluntly, crossing her arms over her chest and looking up at the Minister of Magic with slightly narrowed green eyes. Pausing and glancing back down to meet her hostile expression, James managed a small smile and answered her with a shrug.

"I…_overheard _something from Amos this week." He began slowly; noting the way Harry had suddenly flushed at his words and quickly resumed walking. Biting back a smile, James reluctantly followed after her, keeping himself about five steps behind her so he could observe her reaction. "He told me that Cedric happened to mention something…_important _to him in his weekly letters. And, well needless to say–" James laughed wryly and shook his head. "–Amos was _ecstatic, _to say the very least. Now, I, on the other hand…" James managed a disapproving look at Harry when she turned around to face him. "–while a part of me is _very _disappointed that _you _didn't write to me about this like Cedric did, mostly, I'm just…_surprised _at how this turned out." He thought out loud.

Still wincing, Harry barely realized that she had led them a good fifty meters away from the Great Hall entrance at this point until James stopped her, reaching out and steadying her by placing a gentle hand on her shoulder. Her face still sheepish at his words, Harry stiffened but reluctantly allowed herself to turn around and look up slowly at James' stoic features. When the Minister of Magic just stared back down at her and raised an eyebrow in amusement, Harry finally croaked out.

"So you're…_not _mad?"

To her surprise, her father's features suddenly softened and he shook his head with a smile.

"Mad? No, of _course _I'm not mad, Harry." Smiling at the nervousness he saw in her features, James sighed at her in exasperation, wrapping both arms around her form and pulling her into a tight, affectionate hug. "In shock, maybe…worried…And a little sad, to be honest… But no, love…I am most definitely _not _mad at you." James reached up, gently caressing her hair away from her cheek.

Harry blinked and looked up at him, meeting his eyes in question. "Why are you sad_, _Dad? I thought you approved of Cedric?" She asked him softly, but James shook his head in response.

"It's not that I don't approve of Cedric, Prongslet…" He managed a wry smile at her and rolled his eyes. "Though he _is_ a bit of too much of a Hufflepuff for my tastes–" James pretended to make a face at her, prompting Harry to laugh in spite of herself at his comment. "–but to be perfectly honest, I think he's a good, bright kid…And I think that being with him will be good for both of you." James told her, but after he said this, he sighed and looked at her with a strange, sad smile.

"Frankly, I think I'd be a hypocrite if I tried and stopped you now from meeting and dating boys at your age. It's all a part of growing up, isn't it?" He laughed and reached down to playfully ruffle her hair, causing Harry to make a face again but smile back and lean against him. "So I _promise, _Prongslet, I will…_try—_" James paused and Harry looked up just in time to catch the mischievous glint in her father's eyes. "—to be nice to your guy friends. Just make sure you choose by my standards." He added with a warning growl, and at this Harry couldn't prevent a laugh from escaping her lips.

"And what exactly are _your _standards, Dad?" She asked him, narrowing her eyes.

"Preferably a boy that didn't exist, but I can't have that now, can I?" James quipped with an impish grin, but when Harry rolled her eyes at him, he chuckled and relented. "Fine. Just make sure that your guy friends are nice, proper, and aren't deranged Death Eaters, I won't go after them."

Harry couldn't resist rolling her eyes again at his words in exasperation. "Dad, you talk as if I'll be having a lot of 'guy friends'. May I remind you that Cedric is my _first, _and hopefully _last _boyfriend?" Harry told him pointedly but James just snorted derisively at this and shook his head.

"Oh you'll be trying to introduce more of those blasted boys to me, Harry, I'm sure of it." He stopped them just as they were nearing the Great Hall entrance again and glanced knowingly at her. "Take it from your old man. We're _rarely _lucky enough to end up with our firsts…Why, when I was your age—" James' grin widened when he saw the way Harry was already rolling her eyes in anticipation of his usual 'playboy anecdotes'. "—I probably went through about…_fifteen _girls at least before I was lucky enough to get your mother's attention….And believe me, earning the attention of Lily Evans – the prettiest and _iciest _girl in school – was _not _an easy feat." He kidded, and as he expected, his daughter's features softened at his mention of Lily and she gave him a teasing smile.

"You probably just got her drunk, Dad."

"I most certainly did _not!" _James' shoulders shook with laughter as he reached over and yanked the smaller Gryffindor into his arms, causing her to squeal in protest when he pretended to scruff her by the neck and lock her in an expert choke-hold. "You prat! Take that back, young lady!"

"I will _not!_" Harry laughed as she struggled wildly against him and tried to pull away. "Not until you positively _stop _calling me 'young lady', Dad!" She wrestled with him for a few more minutes until James, still chucking, finally rolled his eyes at her in exasperation and loosened his grip.

"You prat." He teased her affectionately, leaning down and giving her a light kiss on the top of her head before he released her from his arms. "You would think that you'd have more respect for your old man because he's the Minister of Magic." He pretended to give Harry a wounded look.

"I have respect for the Minister of Magic _because _he's my old man, Dad…It doesn't go the other way around." She corrected him as she stood back up and tried to put a semblance of order into her disheveled hair. James had to smirk at the impertinence of her words, and he couldn't help but feel a twinge of pride at the fact that his daughter was not afraid to challenge authority figures.

"Is _that _right, Harry?" He asked her with a small, sideways grin.

"Well…Also because the Minister's a decent enough Quidditch player on most days, I guess." Harry quipped, looking up at him with a mischievous grin just as she had finished fixing her hair.

James' lips twitched and he stopped walking again, turning around to glare weakly at her.

"Only on _most_ days?" He asked, arching an eyebrow at her in challenge.

Harry's expression faltered a bit when she noticed that they had already reached the entrance to the Great Hall. Just over James' shoulder, she could already make out Peter Pettigrew's small, stout frame weaving his way frantically though the crowd of students in search of James.

"Well—" She sighed and shrugged, looking away from him and crossing her arms over her chest. "—during the days he isn't busy being such an insensitive grouchy butthead, I guess." She mumbled, but she immediately winced after she said this and looked up at him to check his reaction.

To her surprise, James broke out into soft peals of laughter at her words and he shook his head at her, his shoulders twitching with mirth. "I—insensitive grouchy butthead?" He burst out laughing again, and when Harry continued to stare incredulously at him as though he had gone mad, James managed to collect himself and looked up to give her wide grin. "Insensitive grouchy butthead! Well, _that's_ definitely a name I never thought I'd hear myself called during my term as the Minister… Quite a refreshing change, actually. It's too bad you're not exactly on good terms with the press, Harry." James commented as he continued to snigger softly under his breath in amusement.

For her part, Harry continued to stare at him with a mixture of incredulity and exasperation in her expression and she waited until he had calmed down before she spoke up again. "Dad, you know what I mean. I don't mean to sound like a brat but these days, I hardly see any other expression on your face except for _this._" She turned to him and made a scowling, scrunched up face – similar to the expression a person would make after having just eaten something foul and bitter.

At this, James couldn't help laughing again but this time, he stuck his tongue out at her and shook his head. "The difference between you and me is that I am hardly as ugly as _you _are when you make that face." To Harry's amusement, James looked down at her and promptly imitated her expression– scrunching up his face into such an exaggeratedly ugly scowl that she burst out laughing.

"Dad, you look _hideous!_" She managed to wheeze out, and once he had set his face back to normal, James grinned and joined her – both of them laughing and shaking their heads in hilarity.

When their laughter had subsided and Harry glanced up cautiously at him again to gauge his reaction, James' expression finally sobered. He sighed to himself in exhaustion, reaching out and gently grasping the silver locket that dangled from her neck. Unsure of what to say, Harry observed his expression carefully, watching as James clicked open her locket and stared at the picture inside.

"You remind me so much of your mother sometimes, you know." James smiled sadly, though he seemed to be avoiding her eyes as he kept his attention focused on her locket. "Lily always knew how to make me laugh too…In fact—" He chuckled and shook his head. "—she was also very creative with all of her insults and nicknames for me. Had me in stitches throughout most of our fights back then that it always took awhile for us to make up because she'd get angrier at me for laughing at her." James blinked and finally looked at her, noting the reluctant smile on Harry' face.

"I wish we all could have been laughing together." His smile faded slowly and he sighed again, dropping his gaze from Harry's crestfallen expression to stare at the ground. "Prongslet, I'm… _sorry _for the way I snapped at you during the Ministry party that night…I really am." James swallowed the lump in his throat, turning his face away so she couldn't see the dreariness in his eyes.

"It just…It _hurts…_a lot…to talk about her." He closed her locket again and moved away from her. "And I don't mean to keep her a secret from you, Harry…I really _don't. _If anything, I want you to grow up with nothing but the most beautiful and _fondest _memories of your mother… Precisely because she was the greatest thing that ever happened to me. That is—" James turned to Harry again and managed to give her a sad smile as he caressed her cheek. "—other than _you, _of course."

Harry turned her face away from him, blinking hastily when her eyes began to grow misty.

"I _promise _that I'll do my absolute best to try and tell you more about her soon…You just… Well–" James ran a hand through his unruly black hair, messing up the strands even more. "–you just have to give me some more time." He looked at her with an almost pleading expression on his face.

"Dad." Harry's face fell and she fought the urge to glare at him in protest. "It's been _fourteen _years since she died…How much more time do you need?" She asked quietly, meeting his eyes.

Unable to answer anything for a few minutes, James just stared back at her for a long time with an exhausted expression on his face that made him look twice his age. It wasn't until about five minutes later that they both jumped when just as they heard the sound of small twig snapping under the weight of a heavy footstep. Hastily turning around, both James and Harry looked up and saw that Peter Pettigrew was approaching them both hesitantly with an apologetic smile on his face.

Shaking her head in dismay, Harry sighed the minute she saw him and turned away – and sure enough, the minute Peter had spoken, he immediately drew James' attention away from her.

"Minister…?"

Blinking, James reluctantly tore his gaze away from his daughter's downcast expression and managed a forced, polite smile at his Chief Adviser. "Yes, Peter? What is it you want now? Who's greasy hand do I have to shake this time?" He asked with a hint of irritated exasperation in his voice.

Either he ignored the obvious irritation in James' voice or he failed to notice it altogether, Peter laughed heartily at the Minister's comment and gave him a cheerful grin. "Oh nobody in particular today, Prongs. We just need you and Harry back inside now. I think Dumbledore is about to start – he wants you to give a short introductory speech to the students." He told him with a wink.

Rolling his eyes at this, James sighed again but obliged by the pulling his scowling daughter into his arms for one last hug before he immediately stepped away. "We can talk more about this after dinner. I promise." He told her gently, failing to notice the disappointed slump in her shoulders.

"Alright, Dad."

Left with no other choice, Harry nodded grudgingly and obliged by following the two men back into the Great Hall. Once they were back inside, James had only enough time to drop a kiss on the top of her head before he sauntered off to the staff table and took the seat between Sirius and Moody just as all the other students in the Hall were beginning to settle down. After nodding quickly at Sirius and reluctantly taking her usual seat beside Hermione over at the Gryffindor table, Harry dropped her head into her palms and only half-listened to what Dumbledore began to announce.

As was his usual routine, the Headmaster began with a very jovial greeting to all of them, along with more of his quirky announcements about which corridor had gotten lost somewhere in the castle that year. Then, after he had talked about how happy he was with everyone's academic progress in their classes, Dumbledore finally turned to address the table of Ministry Officials seated at the staff table at the front of the room. He began by introducing Ludo Bagman and Peter Pettigrew first, who were both there in support of the TriWizard Tournament, before he finally turned and introduced James Potter and Sirius Black to the crowd of wide-eyed, gaping students.

Sirius stood up, greeting everyone with his trademark, sideways grin and a few of his usual jokes before he sat back down and turned the floor to James. And of course, as Harry would have expected no less from her father, James soon went on with another one of his brilliant and charismatic introductory speeches about the TriWizard Tournament, the responsibilities and challenges it would entail, and more importantly – the dangers it would pose. Then, the Minister went on by reassuring all the students about the great rewards of accomplishing such a tremendous feat, as well as the honor, glory, and distinction that came from winning the TriWizard tournament.

In the middle of her father's speech, Harry had braved a look at Cedric across the room, and she saw that her boyfriend was pale and looked as nervous as ever. When he saw her smiling encouragingly at him, he managed a small smile back, though it was obviously tense with anxiety. After James had finished and he had sat back down again in the midst of all the students' cheering and excited whispering, Parvati and Lavender then suddenly turned to Harry and called her attention.

"_Harry!" _Lavender hissed from across the table, causing Harry to glance at her in question. "You didn't tell us your Dad would be coming over this evening!" She accused with a slight scowl.

Blinking at her, Harry couldn't help but arch an eyebrow at her in exaggerated confusion.

"Er…Ok…I didn't know_?"_

Lavender and Parvati both blushed at her bewildered question, and the two girls glanced pointedly at each other and mirrored each other's expressions before bursting out into light giggles. At their reaction, Hermione couldn't help glaring at them and scoffing loudly in disbelief to Harry.

"Oh honestly…Don't mind them. They're just being their usual giggly selves, as always." She noticed the confused expression on Harriet's face and shook her head at her friend's ignorance. "They've had a crush on the Minister of Magic since they were in first year, Harry. I thought you'd have figured out by now who keeps stealing all those pictures you have of your Dad in your trunk." She told her bluntly, and at this, Lavender and Parvati blushed guiltily when Harriet glared at them.

"_You're _the culprits?!" She exclaimed loudly in disbelief, though she winced in embarrassment about five seconds later when nearly everyone seated nearby shushed her in annoyance. "Merlin's beard, you guys! He's thrice your age, have a bit of decency!" She hissed again.

Glaring back at her, it looked as though Lavender and Parvati wanted to snap something back in annoyance but luckily, before they got the chance, Dumbledore drew their attention again.

"Well then…I reckon the Goblet of Fire has made its decision. It should be ready to give us the names of our champions any second now. Minister, if would be so kind as to come with me–"

Harry watched as the Headmaster led her father over to the front of the room, just a few feet away from where the Goblet of Fire was glowing bright blue. Within a few seconds, just as the Goblet was beginning to glow an eerie reddish orange, James and Dumbledore both stepped back.

Everyone watched the scene in silence, waiting with bated breath until the orange flames in the Goblet suddenly glowed deep red. A second after, a sharp tongue of red orange flame shot from the Goblet into the air and a strip of parchment fluttered out with it, causing the students nearby to gasp and lean back to watch as Dumbledore reached up and caught the parchment easily in his hand.

"The champion for Beauxbatons is…" Dumbledore handed the parchment to James and everyone watched as the Minister nodded and glanced back up at the students with a small grin.

_ "–Fleur Delacour!" _

The hall burst into applause, most of the cheers and catcalls particularly coming from the Beauxbatons side of the Great Hall. Fleur Delacour, lovely as ever, stood up gracefully from the Ravenclaw table. After Madame Maxime, the Headmistress of Beauxbatons, had hugged her excitedly, Dumbledore and the Minister also congratulated her with a handshake and she was led into a chamber near the corner of the Hall. Once Fleur was inside, the Hall quieted down again and everyone turned back to the Goblet, waiting until another slip of parchment was shot out into the air.

"The champion for Durmstrang is–" Dumbledore handed the parchment to James again and James smirked as he read the name before he glanced up and announced loudly. "–_Viktor Krum!_"

"Definitely no surprise there!" Ron told Harry above the loud cheers and applause that had erupted from around the Great Hall. Nodding at him in agreement, Harry smiled and clapped along with the others, watching as Igor Karkaroff, the Headmaster of Durmstrang congratulated Krum and led him over to the same chamber Fleur had entered. Once Krum had gone inside, the cheers died down again and Harry turned her attention back to the front of the room. Looking at the Hufflepuff table, she couldn't help but notice that Cedric was looking even paler now than he had been awhile ago. Frowning, she tried to meet his blue eyes from across the room but the Hufflepuff Seeker was just staring intently at his plate, his entire form tense as he waited for the next name to be called.

"And finally…The champion for Hogwarts will be–" Dumbledore read the piece of parchment in his hand and smiled before he turned it over to James. As soon as the Minister had read the name, he grinned as well and glanced up, meeting Harry's eyes from across the room and giving her a wink.

"–_Cedric Diggory!" _

Harry smiled just as the Hufflepuff table burst out into deafening cheers – most of the younger students screaming, stamping and jumping on their feet excitedly as Cedric opened his eyes, let out a short exhale of breath in relief and finally stood up from his seat. The tenseness of his features had relaxed and he had an ecstatic, sheepish smile on his face as he looked around the room, meeting Harry's gaze for a few seconds. When she grinned at him and mouthed for him to get up to the front of the Hall, Cedric nodded and answered her with a smile and affectionate wink.

As soon as Dumbledore and James had both greeted Cedric and given the newly chosen champion a handshake of congratulations, Cedric hung back only to glance at Harry's encouraging smile at him one last time before he nodded and entered the chamber after Fleur and Krum. Once Cedric was inside, James returned to his seat at and Dumbledore smiled brightly at everyone again.

"Excellent! We now have our three champions! Now, we shall proceed with the formal opening of the–" To everyone's confusion, Dumbledore stopped in the middle of his speech and frowned when he noticed that Snape had stood up from his seat and was now approaching the goblet again with a strange expression on his face. Following his gaze, both Sirius and Moody stood up as well while James hung back, his eyes narrowing as watched the Goblet glow a bright, eerie red.

Then, after what seemed like an eternity, the Goblet spewed out yet another slip of parchment into the air – and almost reflexively, Dumbledore caught it, opening it up and staring at the parchment just as all the color seemed to rush out of his face. Blinking rapidly and seemingly having trouble breathing, the Headmaster looked up hesitantly at James' questioning look at him before he turned around, his eyes searching across the Hall until he met Harry's wide green eyes.

_"Harriet Potter."_

* * *

Harry seriously doubted that she had ever seen her father this angry in her entire _life._

The scene that he had just made in the Great Hall, in front of _everyone, _had been horrifying. In the midst of the dead silence that had come after her name had been called out as a champion, James had positively _exploded - _he stormed over to Dumbledore in heated fury, yanked the slip of paper from his hand and read it again and again until his eyes were blazing. Then, without paying any attention to the crowd of students whispering around them, he ignored Sirius' restraints on his arm and stalked over to the Gryffindor table to yank Harry out of her seat. When she had protested, James had snapped for her to keep quiet before he dragged her over to the chamber where all the other champions were waiting. As soon as they were inside, the Minister hadn't even paid attention to the fact that Cedric, Krum and Fleur were staring at them in confusion before he exploded at her.

"_WHAT IN MERLIN'S NAME WERE YOU THINKING, YOU FOOLISH CHILD?!"_

"Dad, I didn't do it! I swear!"

"_YOU WOULD DARE LIE TO YOUR OWN FATHER?!" _

"I'm not lying!_" _Harry's voice broke in her panic as she yanked her arm free from James' grip and glared up at him with flashing green eyes. "I didn't put my name in that Goblet, I swear! I don't want to be in this tournament, this is _crazy!" _She protested, holding her hands out at him in defeat.

James sneered at her in obvious disbelief, but just as he had opened his mouth to say something else, the doors to the chambers opened and both he and Harry winced in annoyance when they were greeted with loud, scurrying footsteps that were headed straight towards them.

Ludo Bagman got to them first – a wide, thoroughly excited smile on his face as he stopped in front of James and Harry and gave them both an ecstatic grin. "Excellent! How very excellent, indeed! Ladies and gentlemen, may I introduce the _fourth _champion – the daughter of a former champion – Miss Harriet Jamie Potter!" He chortled and began clapping Harry eagerly on her back.

She stiffened immediately, and she whirled around to turn wide, frantic eyes back up at her father's dark expression. "_NO! _Dad, I didn't want this! I don't want to be in the tournament! You have to believe me, I didn't put my name in that Goblet!" She protested, her voice growing shrill in her panic but James was no longer looking at her and was glaring at the other wizard approaching.

"Harry?"

Tensing, Harry whirled around again and found herself staring into Cedric's confused, disbelieving expression just as he was walking towards her, his features creased into a small frown. Behind him, Fleur and Krum were also watching them in confusion but the expression on their faces were more reserved – Fleur was looking at Harry in polite question while Krum just stared questioningly at them, his thick eyebrows fused together as he tried to figure out what was going on.

"What are they talking about?" Cedric asked her carefully, flitting his gaze from Harry's pale face to James' tightly clenched jaw. When he seemed to be able to piece two and two together, the frown on Cedric's face suddenly deepened and he glanced at Harry again with narrowed blue eyes.

"What's going on?" He asked quietly again but Harry just stared wordlessly at him for a few awkward minutes, unable to think of anything to say. Instead of answering him, she swallowed the lump in her throat and turned to look up at her father again, watching as James seemed to have gotten even angrier and was now shouting furiously at a panicked Ludo Bagman for him to shut up.

"Minister, we can't reverse the Goblet's decision, you know that! Your daughter's name came out of the Goblet, she has no _choice _but to be the first ever _fourth _TriWizard champion!" Bagman reasoned, but he winced again when James growled and grabbed the front of his robes.

"Then _reverse _the blasted decision, you imbecile! As her father, I _refuse _to let her compete! She's _THREE _years underage! There has got to be something we can do about this stupid mistake!"

"Minister–"

James and Ludo Bagman both whirled around at the same time just as Peter Pettigrew entered the chamber, followed by Dumbledore, Sirius, Moody, Snape, Karkaroff, McGonagall, and Madam Maxime. Grimacing, Peter hesitated when he saw the furious expression on James' face but then, when James glared angrily at him in question, Peter sighed and continued the rest of his words.

"–there _is _no mistake. Harry's name came out of the Goblet, she is _magically bound _to compete in the tournament now. You _know _that. As well as everyone else in this room." Peter reminded him bluntly, but if anything, his words only incited more violent reactions from everyone around the room and before he knew it, all the adults around them started shouting furiously.

"Harry's way too young! She can't possibly compete in this blasted tournament!" Sirius ground out, seething with anger as he grabbed Peter by his robes and jostled him a few times in ire.

"This is _ridiculous, _Dumbledore! If you allow Potter to compete, it would be like giving Hogwarts _two _bites at the apple! It's _completely _unfair!" Madam Maxime screeched loudly at them.

"I agree with Olympe, Albus! If you allow Potter to compete, I will have _my _champion pulled out!" Karkaroff threatened darkly. "Your age line was supposed to keep younger students from joining the tournament. How is it that Potter has entered right under your nose, Dumbledore?" He asked, his tone of voice mocking as his eyes moved from Dumbledore to James. "Or maybe…It's something else. I wouldn't be surprised if this entire thing was just set up by the Ministry itself… You never really did _like _Durmstrang much, didn't you…_Minister_?" Karkaroff sneered tauntingly at James, causing him to tense and grit his teeth when Karkaroff took a few more taunting steps towards him.

When it appeared as though Karkaroff was getting way too close to the Minister for measure, however, before James could even respond, Sirius stepped in Karkaroff's path instantly and sneered back at the Durmstrang Headmaster in cold warning. "Not another step towards the Minister, Igor." Sirius' sneer grew as he twirled his wand around his fingers. "If you know what's good for you."

Karkaroff visibly tensed at this, though he _did _back away from James after Sirius had said this and returned his angry glare back to Dumbledore instead. "We cannot permit Miss Potter to compete, Dumbledore!" He hissed again, and this time, Madam Maxime nodded stiffly in agreement.

"I will _not _allow it!" She agreed, directing a haughty glare at James and Dumbledore.

"My dear Madame Maxime…Gentlemen–" Dumbledore was looking about twice his age as he glanced back and forth between all the angry faces glaring back at him around the room. "–this is entirely out of my hands. I will try to bring this matter up to the School's Governors but until then–"

"Let the girl compete?!" McGonagall's tone was disbelieving as she rounded on Dumbledore again and stared at him with wide eyes. "Throw her out to the wolves? Albus, Miss Potter is hardly trained enough for such a tournament like this, we can't just let her enter!" She protested worriedly.

Nodding grimly at her words, Dumbledore turned his grave expression to Harry and addressed her for the first time since they had entered the chambers. "Harry, did you put your name into the Goblet of Fire?" He asked, his eyes peering deeply into hers as he observed her reaction.

Paling, Harry shook her head frantically at his question and gave him a pleading look. "_No, _Headmaster, I didn't! I swear, I would never voluntarily join something like this!" She told them.

"Ah but of course, she's lying! I should complain about this to the Ministry of Magic in my country!" Madame Maxime shrieked at her again, her voice rising a few octaves higher. To Harry's surprise, it was Moody who had spoken up in her defense as he glared quietly at Madame Maxime.

"If anyone should be complaining right now, I believe it should be Potter." He casted Harry a brief look before turning his magical eye back to Madame Maxime's irate expression. Before the Headmistress of Beauxbatons could speak again, however, Fleur suddenly spoke up. The blonde girl had suddenly walked over to stand beside Madame Maxime and gave Harry a dark, accusing glare.

"Why should _she _complain? She has the chance to compete for her school! Just because she's the Minister's daughter, does not mean she should have free entry into the tournament! It is most unfair! This is a chance many would die for!" Fleur raged at Moody in her thick French accent.

"Perhaps someone is hoping that Miss Potter _is _going to die for it."

The instant the words had left Moody's lips, everyone in the chamber had suddenly fallen into a tense, awkward silence – and only when James seemed to have grasped the full meaning of Moody's words had the Minister snapped and launched himself right at the Auror, grasping him roughly by the front of his robes and raising his wand until it was pointed at Moody's scarred face.

"Prongs–" Sirius made a move to stop him but James was already growling at Moody in fury.

"And just what _exactly _do you mean by that, Alastor?" James' eyes were narrowed dangerously at the older man as he grasped his robes tighter and pointed his wand at him until it was pressing painfully against Moody's throat. "What exactly do you know that _we _don't?" He hissed.

Moody stared back calmly at him, his eyes narrowed in a challenging glare. "It's obvious isn't it, Minister? It would take a very powerful wizard to hoodwink an object like the Goblet of Fire, wouldn't it?" He pointed out, but his words accomplished nothing but rile the Minister even more.

"And why is it that you seemed to have given this a lot of thought, Moody?" James growled.

"Don't sass me, Minister. I was already hunting and killing Dark Wizards when you were just a little boy concerned with nothing but playing with your toy broomsticks and snitches in your pretty little mansion. I still know exactly how a Dark Wizard's mind works. Isn't that right, Igor?" Moody's face darkened into a sneer as he flicked his gaze over to Karkaroff's pale expression, but before the Durmstrang Headmaster could react, James snarled and pressed his wand tighter against his throat.

"Were you just mocking me, Moody?!"

"Dad, no! S_top it!_" Harry protested, her eyes wide as she tried to run up towards him but beside her, Sirius shook his head and reached out to grasp her firmly by her arm to keep her in place. When Harry looked up at her godfather, however, she noticed that Sirius had tensed at Moody's words and he was staring back at James in silence, his face beginning to pale slowly with realization.

"Alastor's right, you know…" Sirius whispered, his gray eyes moving from James' irate expression to Moody's calm, grim look. "Maybe somebody _is _hoping that Harry's going to get hurt in that tournament…And it's very possible that someone else _intentionally _put her name in there to harm her." He whispered, and after he said this, his grip on Harry's wrist had unknowingly tightened.

At this point, Harry felt her heartbeat racing in panic and she gulped as she took a step away from them, dropping her eyes when she felt all the adults in the room studying her face. Then, after another long moment of tense silence, Ludo Bagman finally spoke again and he drew everyone's attention back to him by forcing out a jovial laugh and pretending to shake his head at Sirius' words.

"Now, now, Black…What a thing to say!" He forced another laugh again and turned towards James, giving the other man an overly cheerful smile. "We should all be celebrating here, not worrying over things that aren't true! Come now, Minister! You should be proud of your daughter!" He winced and stepped back when James' response was to flash him a dangerously frightening glare.

Thankfully, the distraction tactic seemed to have worked because James finally released his grip on Moody and stepped back, his eyes still narrowed as he walked over to stand in front of Harry. He kept his glare on Moody though, and Harry noticed the way her father's jaw was tight with anger.

Trembling in worry, McGonagall finally turned to Dumbledore again – noting that the Headmaster was now massaging his temples in exhaustion – and asked him in a hesitant voice. "What are we to do now, Albus? Surely we have the authority to pull Potter out of the tournament?"

Looking up, Dumbledore met her gaze for a few seconds but just as he opened his mouth to speak, everyone around the room was startled when Severus Snape finally spoke up for the first time since the conversation had started, drawing everyone's attention to his cold, calculating sneer.

"If I may be allowed to say so, Headmaster–" Snape allowed his drawl to trail off for a few seconds as he waited for everyone else to stare at him. As this happened, Harry noticed that the Potions Master suddenly tensed the instant James' icy glare had landed on him. Snape seemed to smirk at the Minister for a few seconds before he allowed himself to continue. "–Although I too find it difficult to believe that this is a mere coincidence… If we _were _to discover the true meaning behind these events…Perhaps, we should…For the time being–" Snape's black eyes flicked to meet Harry's.

_ "–let them unfold."_

When nobody in the room seemed to speak for several moments, Snape continued – and this time, he lifted his gaze from Harry's ashen face to James' seething snarl and smirked at him. "Besides…the best thing we have to hope for is that – following all the negative media attention surrounding your daughter lately, Minister – perhaps, this entire situation is merely another way your precious little girl is trying to seek your oh-so-important attention." He added in a snide drawl.

The instant the words had left Snape's lips, Harry felt Sirius' grip around her wrist tighten again and she looked up, noting the way her godfather had cursed under his breath. Before either of them could say anything, however, James had already reacted by pure instinct. He gave a fierce growl and shoved Peter aside, walking right up to Snape until they were face to face and sneering nastily at the Potions Master with a hint of arrogance and self-satisfaction seated in his features.

"Oh, I see…We're back to that now are we, _Snivellus?_" James laughed harshly, his eyes glinting viciously as took another step towards Snape's seething form and taunted him again. "You know, now that I think about it…More than anyone else in here, I would think that it's _you _who _would _want to have my daughter compete in this tournament…Wouldn't you?" He ignored the way Peter was trying to pull him back by the arm and shoved him away, walking right up to Snape again.

For his part, Snape had gone absolutely red at James' words and he whispered back at him.

"Just what is _that _supposed to mean, Potter?"

"I think you know _exactly _what it means, you slimy bastard." James' sneer hardened and without warning, he shoved Snape a few steps away from him in cold challenge – causing Dumbledore to immediately glare at him in warning and admonish him in an angry tone of voice.

"_James!"_

Pausing at the anger he heard in Dumbledore's voice, James managed to collect himself after a few seconds but he continued to sneer mockingly at Snape in challenge. From behind Sirius, Harry had watched the violent scene develop in front of her in shock – not wanting to believe with her very two eyes that the tall, sneering man who was standing in front of Snape, shoving and bullying him around like it was the easiest, most casual thing in the world – was actually her father.

It _horrified _her to realize that in that instant, the sneering bully she saw her father transform into reminded her very much of none other than her own childhood bully – Draco Malfoy – and the fact that she was only seeing this side of James now stunned her beyond belief. In fact, the more Harry allowed herself to think about it now, the more she began to realize that perhaps, Snape's intense hatred towards her and his insults about her father may not have actually been too far off.

"You know, Snivellus–" The snide way James had spoken suddenly pulled Harry from her thoughts again, causing her to stare back at the scene unfolding in front of her in dismay. "–I have half a mind to have Sirius here arrest you right now." James' malicious sneer seemed to be growing with every drop of blood that was leaving Snape's pale face. "I have to hand it to you, it's a pretty good scheme. Using the TriWizard tournament to try and have my daughter killed so that she'd be out of your sight forever?" James' eyes narrowed when Snape glared back at him, his eyes flashing.

"Are you implying that I want to kill your daughter, Potter?!"

"I'm not _implying_ anything_._"

"You cocky son of a bi–"

"That is _enough _from you two!_" _

Momentarily distracted, James and Snape reluctantly tore their glares away from each other and glanced up at Dumbledore's angry, reprimanding look at them. When the Headmaster shook his head and sighed at their antics in exasperation, Snape reluctantly stepped away from James and walked back over to stand beside the Headmaster. James, however, was still seething with anger but when it looked as though he was about to snap something at Snape again, Sirius finally cut him off.

"Cool it, Prongs." Sirius released his grip around Harry's wrist so he could reach over and pull James back. "Death Eaters like him are not worth wasting our breath over." He added snidely.

While Snape and Karkaroff visibly stiffened at his comment, Dumbledore had finally had enough and he glared angrily at both James and Sirius, his blue eyes suddenly turning a cold, icy blue.

"You two are absolutely _not _helping! Severus, if you would be so kind as to fetch me a potion for my headache please." Dumbledore turned to give Snape an imploring look. When the Potions Master looked as though he was about to protest, Dumbledore just glanced warningly at him again until Snape finally sneered but nodded, turning around and stalking silently out of the chambers.

As soon as he was gone, the rest of the adults around the room began to talk amongst themselves again and Moody turned back to Dumbledore, watching him with his magical eye. "So what is your decision about this tournament then, Headmaster?" He asked the older man carefully.

Dumbledore sighed but nodded and glanced up at them again, meeting all the champions' eyes with a grim, resolute smile. "I will talk to the school governors about this matter and do what I can. Although–" He turned to James this time and met the Minister's glare with a calm look. "–I'm afraid, in all other respects, this is completely out of my hands, Minister." He added with a sad sigh.

At Dumbledore's seemingly despondent response, James and Sirius sneered angrily at him while Madam Maxime and Karkaroff glowered back at him in outrage. The other adults – McGonagall, Peter, and Moody – had expressions on their faces that ranged from shocked to suspicious. It was only Ludo Bagman who was positively beaming at them. He grinned as he walked over to the four champions again, rewarding all stunned teenagers with an exuberant handshake.

"Well, now that everything's settled, congratulations to all of you!" He began cheerfully, handing each of them a piece of parchment that talked all about the tournament's history. "Before anything, we'd like to brief you about the first task you'll be facing next month." He told them, failing to notice the way Harry took a step away from him when she felt her stomach beginning to lurch.

"The first task of the tournament is designed to test how daring you are…"

As Ludo Bagman began to explain to them what they should be expecting for the first task at hand, Harry found that she had to struggle to listen to him – because more than anything, she could think about nothing else except what Sirius and Moody had said about the tournament, and the way that both her father _and _Cedric were currently glaring at her from opposite sides of the small room.

In the middle of Bagman's explanation, he made particularly sure to emphasize that none of the champions could ask for any sort of help from their teachers _or _Ministry Officials – he had glanced pointedly at Harry when he said this. He ended his explanation with another jovial smile at them and cheerfully added. "Finally, since you'll be very busy with preparing for the tournament this year–" He winked at the four champions and grinned. "You four will be exempted from your exams."

Bagman chortled loudly as he said this, peering down at the champions to gauge their reactions. Although Fleur and Cedric had both managed to force a weak smile at him, Krum had just shrugged while Harry just nodded miserably, dropping her eyes from Bagman's smile to the floor.

"Well then…Shall we all go back to the Great Hall now to celebrate? Harry, my dear, I believe the press is outside, would you like to be the first to give a statement?" Bagman asked her. Luckily, Sirius chose that moment to interrupt them before Harry got the chance to say anything and the Head Auror had responded by growling and shoving Bagman away from his goddaughter in warning.

"If you haven't got anything else to say, Bagman, I suggest you get the blasted hell out of here." Sirius growled, and thankfully, Bagman didn't need to be told twice. He smiled nervously at Sirius and nodded meekly, rushing out of the room before the Head Auror could hex his head off.

At Dumbledore's invitation, Madame Maxime and Karkaroff followed him back to the Great Hall – both of them scowling and grumbling darkly under their breath as they led their respective champions out of the room. As soon as the two had left, Peter spoke up and turned to the James, giving him a low, polite bow before he spoke. "If that is all, then I believe I must excuse myself as well, Prongs. The press is waiting in the Ministry for a statement regarding this development. I must attend to them right away before any damage happens. If I may ask, Minister?" He flicked his gaze back and forth between James and Harry before giving James a pointed look. "I believe they will be asking for a statement from you. Perhaps you could accompany me back to the office?" He asked.

Narrowing his eyes in obvious annoyance at his words, James gritted his teeth but he managed to give Peter a stiff nod. "Very well. Just wait for me outside, Peter. I just need a few minutes to talk to my daughter alone." He replied curtly, and the minute Harry heard the barely concealed anger laced in James' voice, she stiffened and nervously began fidgeting with her hands.

Evidently, Peter noticed this as well and he glanced at Harry to give her a sympathetic smile before he walked out of the chamber, closing the door shut behind him. After he left, Moody and Professor McGonagall left the room as well – but not before the latter had walked over to Harry and enveloped her in a tearful hug, reassuring her that everything was going to be alright. Truth be told, this didn't really help Harry feel any better at all but she nodded and thanked McGonagall anyway.

As soon as both her Professors had gone, Harry began shifting her feet around nervously, suddenly realizing to herself that only Sirius, Cedric and her father were left in the room with her. When none of them seemed to be willing to speak to her for a long time, James broke the silence when he sighed and sat down in one of the armchairs in the room, burying his face in his hands.

"Cedric, while I would like to congratulate you profusely for your extraordinary achievement today, and the honor I'm sure you'll be rewarding your father by joining this tournament–" James managed to lift his face from his hands and give Cedric an encouraging, but rather forced smile. "–would it be alright if I ask both you and Sirius over there to step out of the room for a few minutes? I'd just like to talk to Harry about something. I promise it won't take long." He reassured him quietly.

"Of course, Minister." Nodding, Cedric managed to give James a weak, polite smile of his own before he allowed Sirius to pull him aside and lead him out of the room. Just before they exited, Harry looked up and saw the small, comforting smile Sirius gave her just before they left the room.

Once they had gone, Harry was unable to do anything else but stare at the ground by her shoes and wait for James to speak. When he _did _speak up, however, the angry disappointment she heard in his voice made Harry wish that she could force the floor to open up and swallow her whole.

"I'm very disappointed in you, Harry."

Wincing, Harry reacted to James' words by looking up at him and exclaiming in protest.

"Dad, you heard what Moody and Sirius said! It wasn't _me–"_

"And just _how _am I supposed to believe that, Harry?! You tell me!" James interrupted her curtly, his eyes narrowing at her again as he inspected her sputtering features. "Are you saying that you had absolutely no _hand _in putting your name in that goblet and that you weren't expecting this?! What if this was just another one of your crazy schemes to get my attention?!" He exploded at her, and the minute she heard her father's words, Harry hung back as though she had been slapped.

"Y–you think I'm lying…" She whispered, her eyes dimming with realization she stared up at him and blinked rapidly when tears began to flood her eyes. "You think I'm an attention-whore too, don't you?" She asked again, her voice barely above a whisper but they caused her father to flinch.

"I don't know _what _to think anymore, Harry." He answered curtly, his voice hoarse.

Harry continued to stare quietly up at him, her vision beginning to blur with angry tears but she refused to let them fall. "Dad…" Her voice was trembling as she pointed quietly to the room exit. "Every single person in that room over there believes that I put my name in the Goblet…They're probably talking about me right now, as we speak." She paused just to swallow the sob that wanted to rip itself from her throat. "But for the life of me, I don't _care _what they think… All I care about is that _you _believe me…But…if _you _think that I'm as much of an attention-seeking liar as they make me out to be…Then…" Her voice trailed off and she looked away as a single tear rolled down her cheek.

"…Then I might as well be…Because I'd have nobody else left to believe me."

If her father noticed the way her voice was trembling as she had said all this, he showed no indication of it – nor did he say anything else in response to her as he stood back up and turned hastily away from her so that she couldn't see his face. When Harry swallowed and continued to watch him with angry tears in her eyes, James gave her a curt nod before he began to walk away.

"I'm going back to the office to fix this mess." He stopped just as he reached the door leading back to the Great Hall and hung back, his hand ghosting above the door's handle. Without turning around to look at her, James closed his eyes and forced himself to take a deep intake of breath. "You're grounded. No Hogsmeade this year. You are not to go traipsing outside without a teacher escorting you. I'll inform Dumbledore of this arrangement tonight. Is that understood?"

For her part, Harry was tired of trying to talk to him so she just answered in a defeated voice.

"Understood."

James didn't say anything else after that, and without so much as another glance at her, he turned and walked out of the room, leaving his daughter staring after him in stunned silence. As soon as he was gone, Harry blinked a few times – and before she knew it, some of the tears that she had stubbornly been holding back began to roll down her cheeks. Growing angry at herself for crying like a little girl, Harry scowled and wiped furiously at her face. Taking a deep, shaky breath, she squared her shoulders and checked herself to make sure nobody else would notice that she had been crying. Finally, she stepped out of the room and began to walk back towards the Great Hall.

As soon as she had stepped out of the chamber, she happened upon her godfather – who was on his way back to the Headmaster's office so he could apparate. To her immense relief, instead of grilling her or questioning her like most of the others had done, Sirius had just given her a small smile and pulled her into a tight, comforting hug. After he had kissed the top of her head and promised her gently that he would get to the bottom of this whole mess, the Head Auror finally left and Harry was left by herself again, sighing as she made her way back to the Great Hall in silence.

She noticed as she walked back towards the Hall that most of the students had already gone and that the ones left were already beginning to disperse from the tables. Shaking her head, she was just about to make up her mind on whether she was going to grab some food from the kitchen or if she was going to head to bed when a voice broke her thoughts, causing her to freeze in her place.

"I can't believe you, Harry."

Tensing, Harry raised wide green eyes up and found herself blinking in confusion at the angry betrayal she found all over Cedric's face. From the looks of things, it appeared as though the Hufflepuff had been waiting for her just by the Great Hall entrance – but the look on his face was far from his usual welcoming smiles. In fact, looking at him now, Harry noted that her boyfriend looked _furious _with her and he looked as though he was barely able to keep himself from snapping in anger.

"Excuse me…?" Harry glared back at him with an affronted look, and she had to take an uncertain step back when Cedric gritted his teeth and walked towards her, pinning her with his glare.

"Harry, I thought you _knew _exactly how much this tournament means to me." He shook his head to himself and sighed in frustration, running a hand through his disheveled brown hair. "I can't _believe _you would turn even _this _into one of your little ploys to get your father's attention! I thought you supported me on this!" He blurted out, his dark expression a mixture of anger and exasperation.

Gaping at him, Harry had to blink for a few times to make sure it was Cedric she was talking to before she managed to find her voice again – and when she did, she couldn't help but feel angry. "Are you saying I'm a liar, Ced? That my own boyfriend doesn't even believe me?!" She demanded.

"What I'm _saying, _Harry, is that I think you're _selfish!_" Cedric let out another frustrated, exasperated sigh and massaged his temples in exhaustion. "You _knew _how much I wanted to be in this tournament! Did that not cross your mind at all when you slipped your name into the Goblet of Fire, hoping to be chosen just so you could get your Dad's attention?" He ignored the way her jaw had dropped in outrage at his accusations and went on. "Harry, this was supposed to be _my _tournament! _My _triumph! Not everything has to be about _you–_" Cedric finally stopped when Harry had raised a hand and slapped him across the cheek – hard enough so that his face snapped back.

As soon as she realized what she had done, Harry's eyes widened and she retracted her hand immediately but she refused to apologize. Instead, she swallowed the lump in her throat and glared back angrily at him, her eyes narrowed and a steely, disbelieving expression on her features.

"If you don't believe me, Cedric…" Harry's voice shook as she looked up at him, struggling to maintain her composure in front of him even though her eyes were rapidly beginning to water again. "…then you're welcome to join my Dad, and the rest of those hypocrites out there who do nothing but mock and ostracize me." She took a deep, shuddering breath before she met his eyes again. "I didn't put my name into the Goblet of Fire. I most certainly did _not_ want this…If you don't believe me, then you can just kiss my arse." Harry stepped back glared up at the taller student in angry challenge, tensing when Cedric just clenched his jaw and glared back down at her in visible anger.

For a few seconds, it almost appeared as though Cedric wanted to say something else but just as he opened his mouth to argue with her again, he caught himself and shook head furiously in dismay. When she remained silent and continued to glare back coldly at him – obviously waiting for him to make a proper apology – Cedric finally gritted his teeth and took a careful step away from her.

"I'm…sorry…I just–"

Cedric raked a hand through his hair again and practically yanked at his own brown strands in frustration. "–I need some time to think. I'm…sorry." He winced the minute he heard the awkwardness of his own words but he didn't bother correcting them before he stalked off, leaving Harry staring after him as he made his way back towards the Hufflepuff tower in heated silence.

She stared at his retreating form quietly, her expression frozen in a neutral glare as she watched Cedric briskly turn a corner and fade from her line of sight. As soon as the Hufflepuff had gone, Harry finally allowed herself to take a deep, shaky breath in exhaustion, and before she knew it, she felt another wave of tears threatening to spill from her eyes. Furious at herself, Harry clamped her eyes shut and shook her head frantically a few times to keep the tears from falling, and only when she managed to gain some control over emotions did she start walking down the halls again.

For a good ten minutes of walking through the corridors, Harry was actually proud of herself for being able to hold her emotions in check for that long – and she told herself firmly that she would only let herself cry once she got back to her bed in Gryffindor tower, but sadly, that didn't happen at all. Because when she turned another corner again, and she recognized the tall, sneering blonde who was leaning smugly against the walls of the corridor she was supposed to pass, Harry couldn't help but stiffen and avert her face away from him so he couldn't recognize who she was.

* * *

"Well, look who it is. It's our fearless heroine champion, little Miss Harriet Potter."

Draco arched an eyebrow at the girl approaching and smirked, deliberately stepping away from the wall and moving in front of her to block her path. When Harry gritted her teeth at this and tried quietly to step around him again, the blonde just chuckled and grabbed her by her wrist.

"What's with the attitude, Potter? I figured you'd be on a high right now. With the Goblet choosing you as one of the TriWizard Champions, your pathetic father is sure to notice you now." Draco sniggered maliciously to himself, not noticing the way Harry's form had stiffened at his words.

The Gryffindor still refused to look up at him, however, and at this, Draco frowned in annoyance and tried to rile her up even more by taunting her again. "Aw… What's the matter, Potter? Are you that ecstatic that you can't even find the words to speak? I figured you'd be yakking away to all your dumb Gryffindor friends by now. Or maybe even to that pathetic Hufflepuff boyfriend of yours, Diggory. Or maybe–" Draco's voice suddenly trailed off and a sadistic look gleamed in his eyes as he smirked and walked closer towards her until their faces were inches apart.

"–your loser boyfriend dumped you, didn't he?" His smirk widened and he couldn't help chuckling when he saw the way Harry's shoulders twitched at his words. "Aw, what happened, Potter? That boy of yours couldn't take the heat? Or maybe he couldn't handle all the pressure that came from dating a girl who could probably box his ears out with one hand tied behind her back." Malfoy pretended to shake his head in sympathy. "I don't blame the little 'Puff, you know. Diggory's probably thinking about the horrible blow to his ego if his own girlfriend beat his arse in the tournament. You have to give him that." He pretended to sigh at this and give her a sarcastic smile.

"Poor little Hufflepuff." He mocked in a sing-song voice, still chuckling as he entertained himself with the thought. When after a few more minutes of him smirking and chuckling to himself, however, Draco eventually seemed to realize that his conversation was strangely _one-sided. _Frowning, he walked back over to Harry's still form again, watching in confusion as he noticed the way her shoulders were beginning to twitch more violently – as though she was actually trembling.

"Potter?"

His eyebrows fusing in question, the Slytherin finally relented and he frowned again as he walked around the Gryffindor, peering closer at her so he could see her face. To his surprise, however, Draco suddenly blinked and hung back slightly when he realized that, to his disbelief, the Gryffindor had been _crying _quietly to herself – and it wasn't even a composed, demure kind of crying either.

Harry was crying _uncontrollably _– as though she genuinely could not find the strength, nor the willpower, to stop herself even if she wanted to – and for a few moments, Draco found that he was either too stunned or too entranced at the sight to do anything else but stare at her. He watched her quietly, his gray eyes softening when he saw the way her shoulders seemed to be trembling with anguished sobs and the way her beautiful green eyes shimmered as the tears poured down her flushed cheeks. In his thoughts, Draco mused to himself how he found it enthralling that, unlike most girls he had seen crying, Harriet Potter accomplished the impossible – she could cry like a baby and still manage to look attractive as she did so, and Draco had to chuckle at the thought.

Pointedly deciding that he didn't want to say anything else that might upset the Gryffindor further, Draco quietly reached into his robe pocket, pulling out a single, clean white handkerchief. Then, careful to keep his expression calm and devoid of any sympathy, he reached out and gently offered the handkerchief to the Gryffindor in silence before he spoke up in a soft, soothing voice.

"Wipe your tears."

As soon as she heard his soft words, Harry seemed to have stopped crying for a few seconds and she blinked tearfully up at him, as though she was actually trying to figure out if she was imagining things or not. In spite of himself, Draco had to chuckle at her reaction, but he continued to hold his handkerchief up to her, waiting patiently until Harry had taken it hesitantly from his hand.

When she reached a trembling hand out to take the handkerchief from him, however, Draco spoke again and he addressed her slowly with a calm, steady voice. "Above anything else, you don't _ever _let them see you like this." He ignored the way she had frozen and was staring at him with wide, tear-stained eyes, and continued. "You don't _ever _let them see that they actually bother you. It's exactly what they want." He told her carefully, and once Harry had finally taken the handkerchief from him, Draco gave her a small, wry grin and used the same hand to chuck her gently up the chin.

"Chin up, Potter…" He chuckled softly, his gray eyes piercing through her green orbs. "I have to believe that I put you through much worse shit than this. I'd be terribly disappointed in myself if I hadn't." He teased her. At his smug words, Harry finally managed to crack a small, weak smile at him.

"You wish, Malfoy." She replied softly, though her words had come out as a shaky whisper.

Draco grinned back at her anyway but just as the Slytherin had turned back around and was already beginning to walk away, he stopped when he reached the end of the corridor. Fusing his eyebrows together in deep thought, Draco finally made a decision and hesitantly turned back around, flitting his gaze back to Harry. When he noticed that the Gryffindor hadn't even moved at all from where she had been standing and that she seemed to be staring off into empty space, Draco shook his head in exasperation and called her attention again, drawing Harry's green eyes back to his face.

"Potter!"

Harry's eyes were strangely dull and lifeless as she looked up and met his gaze.

"For the record–" Draco hesitated for a few seconds, before he shrugged and finally gave her a rather pointed smirk. "–_I _personally don't believe that you put your name into that Goblet."

This seemed to startle Harry out of her self-induced daze instantly and in her shock, she stared intently at him, her eyes growing wide and a disbelieving expression lighting up her face.

"You…_don't…?" _She croaked out, her throat suddenly too tight and too dry to speak.

Draco shook his head and arched an eyebrow at her, giving her a look that implied that she was the most ignorant person alive. "You may be daft but I doubt that even _you _are that stupid enough to willingly throw yourselves to the wolves." He looked amused at his own witty response and smirked at her again, shaking his head. "So stop crying already, Pothead. It makes you look even uglier, you know. It'll scare the little children." He quipped at her, giving her a decidedly cheeky grin.

To his surprise, that seemed to have done the trick because Harry's eyes finally lit up and this time, she gave him a genuine smile, laughing tearfully and shaking her head at him in amusement.

"Malfoy, you really _are _a jerk."

Draco laughed and rewarded her with a sideways grin before he sauntered off towards the Slytherin dungeons, leaving Harry staring after him with a curious smile on her face.

* * *

**A/N: **Phew! For a minute there, I was afraid that this chapter would get too long to post that I would have to cut it in half. Thankfully, I was able to end this here so you guys will all just have to wait until the next chapter to read about what happens next! :D

Who positively loved Draco in this chapter? I did, I did, I did! *sqeeeeeee* (^_^)

**Next Chapter:** More tension between Harry and James, a bit more fighting for her and Cedric (no they are _not _broken up yet, guys. Though I know you'd all want them to be. *winks*), and of course, the first task! ^_^

As always, please don't forget to drop me a comment or review about your thoughts on the story so far, dearies! Yes, I know we all love to hate James right now, but I promise you all that the prat will get better. Well, eventually at least. Wahaha. (^_^) Cheers and see you next update! :D


	6. A Tale of Dragons

**Harriet Potter and the Minister of Magic **

**Disclaimer:** I don't own Harry Potter or any of the characters you recognize from the HP books in this story. All I own is the plot. Everything else belongs to JK Rowling.

**Pairings**: DM/femHP (eventual). CD/femHP. RW/HG. BZ/GW. JP/LP (past). SS/LP (one-sided).

**Warnings:** Spoilers from canon (Books 4 to 7). Occasional time jumps from chapter to chapter. Mature content later on.

**Notes: **I noticed that everyone's hating on James. *pouts* Why? He's not a bad guy here, guys, I promise! As for Cedric, he's not a bad guy either; I promise you'll all get to see a better side of him more as the story goes along. And of course, as for Draco, well don't we all just love the prick? (^_^) Hahaha. Enjoy the chapter!

* * *

**Chapter 6 – A Tale of Dragons**

Harry received a howler from Augustus the morning right after the night her name had been drawn from the Goblet – and it hadn't been pretty, to say the least. She had unwittingly made the mistake of opening it in the girls' dormitory, while her roommates were still asleep. As soon as she had slit open the envelope, the Howler had exploded with Augustus' angry, booming voice and then had launched itself into this long, angry tirade about the recklessness of her actions and about how James was having a lot of trouble at work fixing the mess she made. It didn't make Harry feel any better at all.

As soon as it was done, the Howler had exploded into a mass of flames, leaving Harry blinking dazedly to herself as she pondered on her grandfather's words. Around her, Hermione, Lavender, and Parvati all jolted awake from their sleep and had glared at her the entire morning for waking them up.

That morning, as Harry walked to the Great Hall, she couldn't help but growl again when she saw that nearly every student was holding a copy of that day's Daily Prophet. Thinking back on the article that she had the misfortune of reading, Harry winced and sighed to herself in heavy dismay.

Sure enough, Rita Skeeter had been nothing short of _vicious _that week, and the reporter had written about nothing else except Harry and her destructive relationship with her father. It didn't really take much reading between the lines to figure out that Rita Skeeter was basically making it out to be such that Harry _intentionally _put her name into the Goblet of Fire to win her father's attention – but her defamation hadn't stopped there. After a round of articles basically pinpointing Harry as a troubled teenager, she began attacking Cedric as well, and emphasizing the whole embarrassment of the issue.

This didn't help in easing off some of Cedric's anger towards Harry at all.

Thankfully, it hadn't really taken much effort on her part to convince her friends of her innocence, and for that, Harry was grateful. Hermione and Neville had believed her right away, and both of them had shared Harry's indignation in being forced into a tournament she had no intention of joining. Ron, on the other hand, had surprised Harry with his reaction. While he had initially confronted Harry about the tournament the morning after she was chosen, calling her a 'fame junkie' and basically spewing out angry curses at her, the redhead _did _eventually apologize to her about a few days after.

One afternoon, he just came up to her while Harry was doing her Potions essay in the library and given her a sheepish smile as he sat down. After Ron had apologized profusely for not believing her, he then explained the reason he had been so angry in the first place. He admitted that it hadn't been easy for him during the last four years – always having to compete with a best friend who was the center of everyone's attention without even trying. Rather guiltily, he also admitted that he had, on most occasions, been jealous of the kind of lifestyle she had – with her father being the Minister of Magic, Harry _never _had to worry about money or fame or public recognition, and Ron envied her for that.

Of course, after he had told her all this, Harry had given him an exasperated look and pointedly retorted that she would have given up all the money and fame in the world if it meant she could have the loving family life that Ron had. Rolling her eyes, she also told him that _she _had always been jealous of _him _and that there hadn't been a single summer that Harry hadn't been jealous of the warmth she had always felt in the Weasley household – and she wouldn't have traded that feeling for anything.

At this, she and Ron smiled at each other and he assured her that all he cared about was her safety, and nothing else. He also followed this up with a wry grin and pointedly admitted to her that he was grateful that she was a girl, because if she had been a guy, the blow to his ego from this tournament would have been far worse. Though Harry had laughed with him, she didn't quite get what that meant. After they made up, she and Ron decided to play Quidditch, and their dumb fight was soon forgotten.

Harry was also grateful for the fact that Hermione promised to help her prepare for whatever the tournament had in store for her. Knowing that the top student in Hogwarts was on her side was certainly enough to calm Harry's nerves, and she was reassured further when Sirius had also written to her a couple of days ago and told her to just ask him if she needed help with _anything _for the tournament. Although Ludo Bagman had specifically warned her not to ask for help from any Ministry officials, Sirius was very adamant and he even assured her that he'd make sure they wouldn't get

_Apparently, the Ministry's Head Auror wants me to cheat. _Harry thought as she finished her breakfast and stood up from her seat, beginning to head towards the dungeons for their Potions class.

Sadly, Harry's troubles did not end with her having to worry about the first task.

She and Cedric hadn't spoken to each other since their rather gruesome fight in the Great Hall that night – and if Harry didn't know any better, she could have suspected that her boyfriend seemed to be avoiding her, if the way he purposely avoided her gaze in the Great Hall was anything to go by. It didn't help that the Hufflepuffs were a _very _loyal and supportive lot too, and often they spent a lot of the past weeks doing nothing but mocking Harry or harassing her whenever she passed them in the halls.

To her, it was almost as though the Hufflepuffs were making it out that she was the _fake _Hogwarts champion – and that she had cheated Cedric out of his opportunity to properly represent the school. And though Harry _could _allow herself to understand their perspective, she could _not _accept the fact that even her own boyfriend seemed to be accusing her of purposely trying to upstage him like that.

_I can't believe him…He may as well call me a liar to my face! _Harry thought furiously to herself as she stormed through the school corridors. _I can't believe he's acting as much of a jerk as Dad is! If they don't want to believe me, then fine…They can both go jump off a cliff for all I care! Who needs them anyway?! _She thought, letting out a sigh of frustration as she began heading towards the dungeons.

Neville tagged along behind her, his nose buried in the thick Potions textbook he held as he tried to cram for their lesson that day, while Ron and Hermione brought up the rear, both of which were locked in their usual morning arguments about house elves. Harry was just about to take her usual seat beside Neville near the corner of the classroom when she noticed that Snape was already there, glaring unwelcomingly at them from behind his desk. When he saw Harry there, the Potions Master sneered and arched an eyebrow at Harry, gesturing impatiently for her to move to the front seat of the room.

"Well, if it isn't our little Miss Champion…" Snape's sneer hardened and his eyes glinted as he glared down at her bewildered expression. "…I've reserved an honorary place for _you, _Potter. Take your seat!" He snapped at her, causing the Gryffindor to glare heatedly at him but otherwise sit down. When she scowled and began rearranging her things just as the other Gryffindors and Slytherins began entering the large classroom, Snape began pointing the other students to their newly assigned seats.

"You'll be working in pairs today. I have already pre-assigned your new partner for the remainder of this year. Take your seat and keep your mouths shut unless I tell you to talk." Snape drawled coolly at them as he watched the students grudgingly sit down to their new partners in dismay.

After a few minutes, Draco Malfoy, Pansy Parkinson, and a whole horde of Slytherins walked in, laughing loudly at something Draco was saying. When they began heading to their usual seats near the center of the classroom, however, Snape called out to them as well and addressed them one by one.

"_You…_Malfoy."

Draco looked up instantly and blinked in surprise when Snape gestured impatiently for him to take the seat next to Harry. "You're working with little Miss Champion, over there. Take that seat." For his part, Snape seemed to have completely missed the sudden glare he received from Pansy Parkinson when Draco just shrugged at his words, smirking as he gathered his things and walked over to Harry.

_Not him again. _Harry scowled to herself, but despite her thoughts, she was careful not to look at him – mainly because she still hadn't figured out how was supposed to act around him after their last encounter a few nights ago. Fortunately, from the looks of things, it appeared as though the Slytherin seemed to have forgotten about the incident anyway and was acting like his usual, annoying, cocky self.

Though Harry would never _ever _admit to anyone – not even under the threat of a Bat Bogey hex or an acne curse – Draco Malfoy had unknowingly, or _unwittingly, _been her god-sent savior that night. The Slytherin had believed _her _when no one else, not even her own _father _or her own _boyfriend _had wanted to believe her, and Harriet doubted that she could have pulled herself together if not for Draco.

She actually _owed _the arrogant prat, but she sure as hell was _not _going to let him know that.

With an unabashed grin, Draco plopped himself down into the seat right next to Harry and deliberately dropped all of his things down noisily onto the table – loud enough so that Harry snapped out of her thoughts at all the loud clanging sounds and glared heatedly at him in annoyance. When Draco's only reaction was to smirk at her, Harry grumbled at him but looked away, her cheeks flushing.

"What's with the face, Potter?" Draco didn't bother waiting for her to answer as he whistled and began casually arranging his cauldron on the table. "You look like someone killed your favorite reindeer, filled it with stuffing and then served it to you as dinner on Christmas morning." He drawled with a grin.

She felt a surge of irritation at his words, but she wasn't sure if she wanted to hit him or laugh.

Clearing her throat, Harry had to rehearse the short script she had in her head for a few more times before she finally mustered up the patience to turn her head to the side to look at him again, though what she saw just made her give him another irritated glare. A split second before Harry turned her head to look at him; Draco had been on the verge of reaching over and yanking on a lock of her hair. When she had turned her head, however, the blonde had faltered and quickly yanked his hand away.

"Malfoy, quit that!"

Letting out a sharp exhale of exasperation, Harry narrowed her eyes at Draco's seemingly innocent expression and quickly tucked the lock of hair he had been going for behind her ear. "Look, I'm not exactly thrilled with Snape's partner assignments either. But the best we can do is get through this lesson without going at each other's throats. Would you be agreeable to that?" She asked him pointedly.

Glancing back at her, Draco looked a bit surprised at her relatively civil greeting, but when he recovered, he arched an eyebrow again and retorted in a mocking drawl. "Hey, between the two of us, if anyone has the right to complain about this arrangement, it's _me, _Scarhead. I'm the one who has to be dragged down by your utter ineptitude at Potions." He scoffed and gave her a glare. "You'd better _not _drag my Potions grade average down this year." He warned her, his features scrunching up into a scowl.

Amused at his warning, Harry offered him a shrug and answered him with an impish smirk.

"Hey, I'd be perfectly content letting you do the work for _both _of us, if you want. That way, you can _ensure _that your beloved Potions grade won't suffer." She drawled back smugly, and despite herself, Harry couldn't help grinning when Draco was unable to do anything else but glare back at her in defeat.

Fortunately, she was distracted from having to say anything else when the student in front of them moved from his seat, causing a thick roll of newspaper to fall from his bag onto the floor. When she noticed that the newspaper the student had dropped was the latest copy of the Daily Prophet, she stiffened and scowled at the large picture of her and her father splashed out on the paper's front page.

_Great. Just what I need. _ Gritting her teeth, Harry was just about to snatch the offending object from the floor when, to her dismay, Draco reached for it first and unrolled the paper up on the table.

Squelching the urge to snatch it from him, Harry stiffened in her seat and watched anxiously as the blonde Slytherin seemed to scan the paper for a few seconds. Half of her was already preparing for the worst that Draco could possibly fling at her once he read Skeeter's article but, to her surprise, Draco shook his head and pointed _not_ to Skeeter's article about Harry but instead, to the article right _beside _it.

Blinking in surprise, Harry flicked her gaze down and followed his finger to the slightly smaller article right beside Rita Skeeter's – an article which provided everyone a brief biography on the different Headmasters and Headmistresses of all the Wizarding Schools in Europe. The article began with the top three – Hogwarts, Durmstrang, and Beauxbaton – and there was a special write-up on Igor Karkaroff.

"Can you believe the rubbish they put in here?" Draco's voice was dripping with disgust as he scoffed and sneered at Karkaroff's picture in anger. "They make it sound as if Karkaroff had his nose clean all his life. None of these articles mention _anything _about the fact that the bloody git used to be a Death Eater during the First Wizarding War." Draco shook his head and dropped the newspaper in ire.

When she did nothing but offer him a mildly surprised look at his words, Draco glared pointedly at her and sneered. "What, you didn't know, Potter?" He scoffed again and grabbed the newspaper from the table, laying it down in front of her and lowering his voice before he began to speak again. "Before he became the Headmaster of Durmstrang, Karkaroff was one of the Death Eaters who heavily supported You-Know-Who." Draco told her, causing Harry's eyes to narrow at him in stunned realization.

"So the Headmaster of Durmstrang was a Dark Wizard?" She asked him in surprise but Draco shook his head at her and gave her a wry smirk. "The Headmaster of Durmstrang _is _a Dark Wizard, Potter. I doubt Karkaroff cleaned himself up after he was captured by the Ministry when You-Know-Who disappeared. Father says that he still sees Karkaroff skulking around shady places these days." He mused.

Nodding her head at his words, Harry looked up briefly to make sure that Snape didn't see them talking during his lecture. Once she was sure that the Potions Master was still busy mocking Neville to notice them, she fused her eyebrows in thought and scooted her chair closer to Draco's to lean in closer.

"How did he get caught? Who brought him to the Ministry of Magic?"

Draco looked at her, one of his eyebrows arching and a grim smile forming on his lips.

"Barty Crouch."

When he noticed how all the color in Harry's cheeks seemed to have drained from her face, Draco's eyes narrowed again and he leaned in even closer so he could whisper into her ear. "Crouch may seem like he's harmless _now – _being the Head of the Department of International Magical Cooperation and all – but that jerk was a lot more dangerous back then. He used to be the Head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement during the war. Had several complaints filed against him for cases of criminal brutality and even staged trials. He had a lot of enemies, that's for sure." He told her.

Paling even further at his words, Harry tried her best not to show that she was shocked but when she _did _manage to say something, her voice came out as a raspy whisper. "Was he a Death Eater?"

Draco scowled at her words but he shook his head and answered in a mocking tone of voice.

"He may as well have been. My mother knew him personally, you see – he was related to one of her cousins – and she told me that Crouch was _merciless. _He even had his own son convicted without a trial when he found out that he was a Death Eater. _Threw _him down to the Dementors. Just like that."

By now, Harry felt sick at his words and she shook her head to herself, muttering in a soft whisper. "He gave his own son to the Dementors? I didn't even know he _had _a son, he never mentioned him to my father. I can understand his hatred for Death Eaters but I never knew he could be that cruel."

At her words, Draco just offered her a careless shrug before he began setting up the ingredients on their desk for their assigned potion. "So you can imagine that for someone like Crouch – who was willing to give up his own flesh and blood for his anti-Death Eater campaign – convicting a scumbag like Igor Karkaroff without a trial would be fairly easy. The poor sod was sentenced to life imprisonment without delay." He drawled nonchalantly, causing her to blink a few times and give him a surprised look.

"How did he get himself out of it?" She asked.

Smirking, Draco arched an eyebrow at her and began ticking names off his finger one by one. "Dolohov, Rosier, Travers, Mulciber, Rookwood…" He paused and turned back to meet Harry's gaze. "He gave up the names of some of his fellow Death Eaters in exchange for his freedom. Crouch would have locked him up for good if it hadn't been for his mention of Rookwood, who was an Unspeakable working in the Ministry at the time. Rookwood's conviction had been Karkaroff's lucky ticket out." He explained.

She was hardly aware of it, but Harry's jaw was hanging open as she listened intently to Draco's words, and her mind was already whirring off on its own as she thought back on the conversation she had heard between Peter Pettigrew and Barty Crouch before school had started. They had mentioned something important – that Lucius Malfoy knew something that they positively could _not _let anyone else know – and thinking about that now, Harry wondered if Draco also happened to know what that something was. Fusing her eyebrows together, she bit her lip and flicked her gaze over to the blonde.

"Do you think _he _could have been the one to put my name into the Goblet of Fire?"

She blinked and watched Draco's reaction carefully, noting that the blonde had stopped what he was doing and turned to give her a genuinely confused look. To her disappointment, he just scoffed and pointed out. "I haven't the faintest _idea _who put your name into that Goblet, Potter…But let me tell you this." Draco smirked at her in amused sympathy. "Whoever put your name into that Goblet is definitely no friend of yours and wants to maim you and bury you alive_. _That much I know." He sniggered loudly.

In spite of herself, even Harry could not prevent a laugh at the pure _bluntness _of his rude statement and shook her head to herself in exasperation. When they both fell silent again and Harry eventually forced herself to start brewing her potion, a question continued to itch in the back of her mind – and before she knew it, she had turned to Draco again and asked him in a low tone of voice.

"Would your father know something we don't?"

Stiffening at the vagueness of her words, Draco turned around slowly and glared at her, his eyes narrowing as he tried to gauge the intention in her eyes. "And just what do you mean by that, Potter?"

Harry shook her head hastily, waving his suspicion aside to reassure him that she wasn't trying to pinpoint anything on his father before she scooted her chair even closer to him again and explained. "Your father was also convicted as a Death Eater, I know. But then he _and _Snape were both eventually cleared, I know the whole story, Draco. I wasn't accusing you of anything. I just have a question for you."

She noticed that Draco seemed to have momentarily forgotten about his anger towards her when he heard the way she had called him by his first name but before he could comment on this, Harry had spoken again and she lowered her voice even more into a very soft whisper. "I happened to have come across Barty Crouch and Peter Pettigrew discussing something a couple of weeks ago." When Draco blinked and stared at her in confusion, she went on. "It was during the Ministry party… I just overheard their conversation while passing by, I wasn't spying on them or anything." Harry added hastily.

When he nodded for her to continue, Harry spoke again. "Anyway…They mentioned something about your father–" She noticed the way Draco suddenly stiffened in anticipation at her words. "–how he knew something important that neither I _nor _my father should know about." Harry finally paused as she said this and looked up at him, noting the way Draco was now listening very intently to her. "Malfoy, would you _know _anything about what they were talking about? Is it about my having been forced into joining this TriWizard tournament? Did one of them put my name into the Goblet?" She asked quietly.

Draco did nothing but stare back at her, his silver eyes slightly dazed as he seemed to mull over his own thoughts. Finally, after a few long minutes, the Slytherin finally snapped himself out of his trance. "I think–" He paused and shook his head slowly before he continued. "–that this entire matter goes far beyond your Daddy troubles or this tournament, Potter." He noticed the way Harry's eyes had flashed in annoyance at his words but before she could interrupt him, Draco spoke again to cut her off.

"What exactly did you hear them say anyway? And who exactly did you see?" He asked.

Harry frowned at his question, but when opened her mouth to answer, Draco surprised her when he suddenly held up a hand to cut her off again and briskly shook his head. Then, after he took a moment to glance around them, just to make sure that neither Snape nor their other classmates were listening in on their conversation, Draco gestured discreetly for her to follow him down before ducking his head underneath their Potions table. Gaping at him, Harry's eyes went wide and her expression was incredulous but nevertheless, she ducked her head down with him until they were both staring at each other underneath their table. Blushing slightly, they stared awkwardly at each other for a few seconds when they realized how close their faces were underneath the table. Eventually, Harry stiffened when she noticed that Draco was staring at her and was sniffing at her with a curious expression on his face.

"Are you wearing perfume, Potter?"

He arched an eyebrow at her embarrassed expression when Harry leaned back and glared at him before she managed to sputter out an indignant reply. "I don't _wear _perfume, Malfoy!" She hissed.

To her surprise, Draco chuckled at her and he rewarded her with an appraising grin.

"You smell really good."

His lips twitched, though he pretended not to see her flushed cheeks as he gestured to her again and asked. "Now enlighten me, Potter. What exactly did you hear Crouch and Pettigrew talking about?"

Blinking in dismay, Harry hesitated for only a few seconds but eventually, she soon found herself relaying to her childhood rival every last bit of information and observation she saw from Crouch and Peter's conversation that night. She didn't exactly know _why _she was discussing such a controversial issue with him, or why she was actually talking to him _civilly _for that matter, but Draco seemed genuinely interested and curious in what she had to say so she entertained all of his questions anyway.

She told him about what Crouch and Peter had talked about – about what they had said about Mad-Eye Moody, about the 'tournament preparations' Crouch had instructed Peter to handle, but more importantly, about the important information they believed Lucius Malfoy to have. When she explained this to Draco, she noticed that the Slytherin's eyes had narrowed in confusion and he stared dazedly at her, deep in thought. When he snapped out of his trance, he gave her a speculative look and answered.

"My father knows something?" Draco frowned to himself at this and shook his head. "I haven't the faintest idea what father knows, Potter. Whatever it is, it's probably really horrible if Pettigrew is desperate enough to make sure nobody else finds out about it." He muttered darkly under his breath.

Harry didn't answer but stared back at him for a few moments, trying to discern his reaction. "My father trusts Peter, Malfoy. What are you saying? Are you implying he put my name into the Goblet?" She asked, making sure to lower her voice in a very soft whisper lest anybody else heard them.

Rolling his eyes, Draco gave her a look that was a mixture of exasperation and annoyance. "I'm not implying _anything, _Potter. Peter Pettigrew is a dirty, lying scumbag who sleeps around with filthy prostitutes, gets involved in all sorts of gambling scandals, and pulls all sorts of special favors all around the Ministry office to hide his dirty habits." He sneered when he saw the disbelieving expression on Harry's face and continued. "My father told me that he once saw Pettigrew talking to a group of shady looking werewolves down in Knockturn alley, and just last week , he saw Pettigrew again – this time, buying a soul gem – the only thing a wizard could use to bargain with a dementor." Shaking his head, Draco was barely able to suppress a shudder before he turned to meet Harry's dismayed expression.

"You should _really _be careful with the kind of people you trust, Potter."

Harry felt a surge of irritation at this and she growled, narrowing her eyes at him in challenge.

"Really? Then why should I even trust _you, _Malfoy?" She retorted with a derisive scoff.

Draco rewarded her with a smug smirk, one of his eyebrows arching up in challenge.

"Because I'm the only one who can give you with the information you need right now."

Harry's eyes narrowed. "Oh and I'm just supposed to take your word for it? You, the son of a former Death Eater?" She hissed back at him, drawing away when she noticed his eyes flash in anger.

Glaring at her, Draco had looked as though he was going to say something nasty back but before he could even speak, he stiffened when a loud, familiar voice suddenly spoke up in front of them – immediately causing both teenagers to start in surprise and hastily jerk their heads back up in alarm.

"Miss Potter…Mister Malfoy…If you two are quite finished doing exactly…_whatever…_it is you two are doing underneath your table…Would it be too much to ask for you to listen to my lecture?"

Snape's voice was laced with a hint of amused sarcasm as he addressed them, causing the entire class to look up and glance curiously at Harry and Draco before erupting into a chorus of whistles and catcalls. Blushing furiously, Harry met Draco's amused smirk under the table with wide green eyes.

As they both snapped their heads back up against the bottom of their table at the same time, everyone heard two loud consecutive thuds just as Harry and Draco yelped and let out a resounding–

"_OWWWW!"_

Wincing in pain, both teenagers hastily yanked their heads back up from underneath the table and looked up, smiling sheepishly at the tall Potions Master who was currently glaring at them from where he stood looming in front of their table. When they did nothing but smile back at him in obvious embarrassment, Snape's eyes narrowed further while the other students around them began to laugh.

"_Potter!" _He barked out.

She flinched but she looked up at him, recoiling at the obvious irritation flashing in his black eyes.

"_Detention!" _Snape growled at her, ignoring the self-satisfied grin on Draco's face.

Harry's jaw dropped open at this and she glared furiously at him, sputtering in outrage. "What _for?! _And why only me?! Malfoy wasn't paying attention to your lecture either!" She protested loudly.

The Potions Master just sneered down coldly at her before meeting Draco's eyes and giving the smirking blonde a warning glare. "For being an insufferable attention-loving brat and distracting your fellow classmate during class! Now, both of you, stop your dilly dallying at once and get to work!"

* * *

Harry frowned heavily to herself as she trailed after Ron and Hagrid out of the Owlery that afternoon, both of which were berating her about her recent attempt at extracting important information from Draco Malfoy. When she told Ron about how she inadvertently ended up confronting Malfoy directly about what he knew, her best friend had given her a look that suggested she was insane.

"Are you mental, Harry?! This is Malfoy, we're talking about! He's the son of a former Death Eater, we can't trust him!" Ron hissed at her, both of them whispering under hushed voices as they followed Hagrid around a corner. "Besides, the bloody git has been doing nothing lately but bug you, hasn't he? I reckon he just jumped at another opportunity to peek under your skirt." Ron growled at her.

At his words, Harry blushed and she couldn't help nudging the redheaded best friend in admonishment. "Malfoy has _not _been trying to peek under my skirt for more than a week now, Ron–"

He snorted at this and shook his head in dismay. "Maybe not that you'd notice. If that perverted git even comes a _foot _near you, tell me right away so I can hex his–"Ron was interrupted when Hagrid suddenly stopped in front of them and turned around, giving Harry a half-amused, half-sympathetic look.

"Malfoy's peekin' under 'arry's skirt, now? Is that right?" Scowling, Hagrid ignored the way Harry was glaring pointedly at him to lower his voice and continued. "Well, yeh tell that little bugger that if he 'as a problem, he should take it up with me. Where's that boyfriend of yers anyway, 'arry? Shouldn't it be 'is job to scare perverts away from yeh?" Hagrid scolded, causing Harriet to mumble back in response.

"Cedric and I aren't exactly on speaking terms right now, Hagrid." After she said this, she glared at him and scoffed. "Although thanks for pointing that out, that makes me feel a whole lot better." She muttered, and in spite of himself, Hagrid managed to look a little guilty and gave her an apologetic look.

"Ah, I'm sure Diggory will come around, Harry." Hagrid tried to comfort her but Harry just scowled further at him and crossed her arms over her chest. "Hagrid, why are you even following us around, anyway? I'm pretty sure I've known my way around the school since first year, I'm not about to get lost any time soon." She mentioned sarcastically, her eyes already narrowing at him in suspicion.

As soon he saw her dubious expression, Hagrid finally relented and sighed, shaking his head at her in apology. "I won't lie to yeh, 'arry. Yer Dad sent me an owl the other night. Said somethin' about needin' to accompany yeh around school ground as much as I can. Says yer not safe and that yer not allowed around the grounds without a teacher with yeh." Hagrid gave her a genuinely remorseful look. "I'm sorry, 'arry. But Minister's orders, I can't exactly go against yer father." He added in a guilty voice.

Sighing, Harry just shook her head at his explanation and managed to give him a reassuring nod. "It's not your fault, Hagrid. At this point, I wouldn't exactly try to put _anything _past my Dad right now. He doesn't believe me either." Wincing miserably, Harry turned to glance back at Ron's sympathetic gaze at her and shrugged. "You want to head back to the Great Hall now to grab some food?" She asked.

At this, the frown on Ron's face suddenly vanished, and in its place was an impish grin. "You just said the magic words, mate. Let's go then." He agreed easily, but before they hurried forward, Hagrid turned to them again and gave them both a quick nod. "Alright, yeh two go on ahead then. I'll head on back outside and see if I can do something about them loose nifflers. Yeh goin to be alright?" He asked.

In response, Harry just glared pointedly at him until Hagrid chuckled and nodded them off. Just as she and Ron were heading quickly back to the castle, however, the minute they the school, they saw a group of Hufflepuffs and Ravenclaws milling about near the school's entrance. What made Harry freeze in her tracks, however, was when she saw that Cedric was seated near the middle of the large group. The minute she and Ron had entered, Cedric's gaze seemed to have immediately flicked over to her and he stood up, hesitantly walking over to them. Harry's eyes narrowed at this, especially when she noticed that a few more of Cedric's friends were trailing after him. They watched curiously as Cedric hesitated for a few seconds before walking up to them. To Harry's immense confusion, instead of approaching her directly, Cedric had walked up to Ron instead and gestured quietly for them to talk.

Returning her incredulous look, Ron shrugged at her before walking over to where Cedric and his tall group of sixth year Hufflepuffs were huddled together. As they talked, and Harry continued to fidget awkwardly in front of them, the redheaded Gryffindor sighed in exasperation and broke away. Shaking his head, Ron walked back over to an anxiously waiting Harry with an irritated look on his face.

"Well?" Harry's voice was laced with impatience as she accosted Ron the minute he got back. "What did the bloody git want? Does he finally want to apologize to me for calling me a liar?" She hissed.

Sighing to himself, Ron looked up again and aimed an irritated glare at Cedric over Harry's shoulder before he turned to her again and answered her question. "Cedric would like me to tell you… That his father told him… That Remus was told by your father… That Sirius will meet you down in the lake tonight." Ron paused, and looked up, wincing when he saw the frustrated confusion in Harry's eyes.

"Is that right?" Harry snapped back at him, but when it dawned on her what Ron had just said, she blinked a few times before flicking her glare over his shoulder at Cedric again. "Well then…_what?!"_

Ron stared back dumbly at her, blinking hesitantly. "Uhhh…Wait here."

Sighing, he trudged back over to where Cedric and the other Hufflepuffs were still watching them from a few feet away and began whispering to him in hushed tones. When Cedric just hissed something back at him and pushed him back towards Harry, Ron groaned and rolled his eyes at the sky.

"Cedric's father told him that Remus was told by–" Ron cut himself off sharply and finally gave Harry a glare. "Please don't ask me to say it again. Sirius will meet you by the lake tonight after dinner. Just take my word for it." He said exhaustedly. At this, Harry's eyes narrowed at him and she spoke again.

"Oh is that so? Well, you can tell Cedric that–"

"I'm hungry, Harry!" Ron exploded, and after giving Harry and Cedric a venomous glare that made them both wince sheepishly, he let out a frustrated growl and began stalking towards the kitchens.

* * *

Truth be told, meeting up with Sirius a few nights ago and finding out that the first task she would be facing for the tournament would be to go against a real _dragon _didn't really help Harriet feel any more prepared at all. In fact, quite the contrary, Harry had absolutely no _idea _how she was going to make it out alive after an encounter with a dragon - and fortunately, that was where Sirius had come in.

In secret, her godfather had been giving her advice through his letters every night since she had seen the dragons – tips on how she would be able to fend off a dragon with the simplest spells. Though, in truth, most of the spells and defensive maneuvers Sirius was trying to teach her were still _way _too advanced for her level, and Harry still had to turn to Ron, Neville, and Hermione for help and advice.

Her father, much as she had already anticipated, hadn't spoken much to her since he had exploded at her the night she was chosen as a TriWizard Champion. Although, to Harry's dismay, he _did _send Peter over often to check on her – and to give her a horde of defensive DADA books to read which James thought would be able to help her during the tournament. Harry hadn't found a single one useful.

Most of the books he had given her to read were either too detailed or too complicated for her to understand – and though James _did _also send Remus occasionally to help Harry go through them, she knew she was still far from prepared to face the first task. From first hand experience, she knew that to read about spells and tactics in _theory_ was a _lot _more different than actually being in the actual situation.

Although Harry _was _grateful for the fact that her friends were doing all they could to help her recall all of the crucial charms and hexes she would need for the tournament, her one big break had only come when Mad-Eye Moody had approached her one afternoon and asked to see her in his office. From there, he had checked up on Harry about how she was faring in her preparation – but more importantly, he had hinted on the one crucial strategy that she would benefit from the most – _play to your strengths._

_Play to my strengths. _Harry thought quietly to herself as she recalled his words. She tried to determine exactly what skill it was she had that she was undeniable good at – and then, it had hit her.

_I'm good at flying! I can use my broom and fly around the dragon! _Harry realized to herself, and though Moody hadn't heard her thoughts, he had seen the triumph in her eyes, and he smirked at her.

Since then, Harry had spent the remaining four days doing nothing else but practicing and refining her summoning charms with Hermione in the girls' dormitory. She refused to come out of their room even when Neville had informed her that Cedric dropped by to see her. After everything that's happened, she was still horribly mad at the prat – and she wanted the silent treatment to go on longer.

Though, if she were to go by his behavior in the last few days, Harry _knew _that Cedric was ready to apologize to her – the guilt was written all over his handsome face. Harry confirmed this in the middle of the Weighing of Wands ceremony – when Rita Skeeter ruthlessly made a loud comment about how 'romantic' it was that Hogwarts' champions were together, and Cedric gazed apologetically at Harry.

When she met his eyes, the Hufflepuff had offered a repentant smile at her but he winced and looked away when Harry glared back, her green eyes flaring with anger. And once all of their wands had been inspected and checked by Mr. Ollivander, Harry had stalked off before Cedric even got an opportunity to approach her again, leaving the crestfallen Hufflepuff staring after her in frustration.

Thus, when she had arrived in the champion's tent on the morning of the First Task, her attitude towards Cedric had been pretty much the same. He looked up hopefully at her the instant she had entered the tent but one look at the angry glare that Harry sent him was enough to pin him in his place.

Then after a few deep intakes of air, Harry managed to trudge her trembling form over to the bench between Fleur Delacour and Viktor Krum and shakily sat down. Beside her, Harry noticed that Fleur was looking a lot paler and clammier than usual, and even Krum looked tense as he glowered to himself and fidgeted impatiently with the wand in his hand. Neither of them spoke a word to her, and when Harry glanced up at Cedric again, she noticed that even _he _looked like he was going to throw up.

The Hufflepuff champion was pacing the length of the tent nervously, occasionally peering out into the crowd every now and then to watch and wave to the other students passing by. As he did this, Harry couldn't help but glower to herself even more, her heart pounding nervously in her chest as she thought about everything Sirius, Remus, and even Hermione had taught her to do during the match. Then, with a pang in her chest, she thought about how much she wished her father would drop by the tent – if only to reassure her that everything was going to be alright and that she was going to be fine.

Sadly that wasn't the case – Cedric's father had already dropped by the champions' tent more than an _hour _ago, so if James was going to wish Harry good luck at all, he would have done so already.

"_Psst! Potter!"_

Her thoughts immediately forgotten, Harry snapped her head back up, startled, and stood up, her eyes scouring the room for the source of the sound. Just as she was about to dismiss it as nerves, she heard the voice again – and this time, she was certain whoever was calling her was definitely _male._

"_Potter! Over here, by the corner!_"

Frowning, Harry sauntered over to the corner of the tent and glanced around, making sure that none of the other champions were watching her. Then, slowly, she lifted the end of the tent's cloth and slipped outside, blinking in surprise when she found herself face to face with amused mercury eyes.

"Malfoy?"

For a few seconds, Harry did nothing but gape at the blonde Slytherin in confusion, noting to herself that Draco Malfoy was without the usual company of Pansy Parkinson or his other Slytherin friends. When she continued to stare at him, Draco rolled his eyes and rewarded her with a wry smirk.

"How are you holding up, scarhead? Have you figured out what you're going to do about that dragon?" He asked, but at his words, Harry instantly closed her jaw with a snap and glared darkly at him.

"How did you know about that?" She hissed back at him but Draco just scoffed at her and gave her a smug smile, crossing his arms before leaning one shoulder casually against the pole of the tent.

"Oh _please, _Potter…You underestimate me, surely." He chuckled at her confused expression and tapped his temples. "I'm a Slytherin, remember? I'm resourceful in finding information, I have my ways. Plus, my father tells me things. You'd do well to remember that next time." He told her with a smug grin.

Rolling her eyes at his words, Harry imitated his stance by crossing her arms over her chest and glaring up at him. "Fine, whatever. What are you doing here, anyway? Shouldn't you be up in the stands by now?" She asked him but to her surprise, Draco shook his head and reached into his robe pockets.

Then, with a grim smile, he handed her an old clipping from the Daily Prophet and began speaking in a low, hushed voice. "I thought about what you told me during Potions that other day, Potter. And I decided to research into Barty Crouch a bit more on my own. Here's what I found so far." He waited until Harry had read the newspaper article a few times before he continued to speak. "That's a newspaper clipping from a long time ago back when Crouch was still the Head of Magical Law Enforcement. It was sometime during the First Wizarding War." He watched her reaction carefully, noting that Harry's eyebrows had fused together in thought as she scanned the article over and over.

"Crouch had a number of cases filed against him, including the authorization of Unforgivable curses if he deemed it necessary. People thought he did this to win everyone's vote so he could become Minister of Magic – until of course; James Potter beat him out as the favorite. Since then, my father and I have always been wondering why he's been such a suck-up to your Dad until now." Draco paused again and waited for Harriet to take in all of his words before he shook his head and gave her a slight shrug.

"As for what Crouch and Pettigrew were talking about…I haven't the faintest idea yet. But my father _did _tell me this. You remember Crouch's son?" Pausing, Draco glanced around them quickly to make sure nobody could see them before he leaned in close to Harriet until their cheeks were touching and his lips were hovering just above her ear. "–after Crouch convicted his own son in the courts, he lost his popularity with the voters and failed to become Minister of Magic. When his son was sent to Azkaban, Crouch's wife eventually killed herself…So he's been lying low in the political scene ever since. Though people _have _been whispering about how Crouch is just waiting for the right opportunity to come along so he could steal your father's position as the Minister of Magic." Draco told her in a soft whisper, unaware of the way Harry had stiffened at how his lips had inadvertently brushed against her cheek.

Trembling at the truth she heard in his words, she pulled away from him slowly until they were face to face and met his serious expression with slightly narrowed green eyes. When Draco stared back at her and met her uncertain expression with a curious smirk, she shook her head and spoke softly.

"Thank you for that…but…" Frowning, Harry tilted her face up so she could meet his gaze. "I don't get it. Why are you helping me?" She asked, watching as his eyes seemed to gleam in amusement. Chuckling at her confusion, Draco shrugged, one corner of his lips tugging upwards into an impish smile.

"Because I find you attractive and I want in your pants?" He kidded, giving her a flirtatious grin.

When Harry glared at him but dropped her gaze shyly to the floor, Draco raised a hand and tucked two fingers underneath her chin, tilting her face up to meet his. Once their gazes met, Draco grinned teasingly at her, his fingers still tucked underneath her chin as he kept her face tilted up to his.

"I already told you so many times, Potter." He shook his head and chuckled, stroking his thumb languidly against her cheek. "That I could help you in associating with the _right _sort of people. Maybe soon enough, with this issue involving Crouch and Pettigrew, you'll be more inclined to believe me."

Harry was unaware of the way she was blushing under the Slytherin's intense stare, but when she had somehow managed to snap back to her senses long enough to answer him, however, a loud, _flash, _followed by a familiar voice spoke up behind them – causing both teens to whirl around in dismay.

"_Young love!" _

Rita Skeeter was positively _squealing _like an overjoyed fan girl as she rushed towards the two teenagers in excitement, completely oblivious to the horrified expression on Harry's face and the decidedly smug expression on Draco's. As soon as she had seen the notorious Daily Prophet reporter running towards them with a deadly camera, Harriet had gasped sharply and ripped herself away from Draco as though he were on fire, her cheeks burning bright red as she turned to glare at Skeeter in shock.

"Skeeter, what in Merlin's name do you think you're doing in here–"

"How exciting…_Forbidden _love…" Rita pretended to swoon to herself as she gestured to the camera man behind her again and let out a thoughtful, excited giggle. "The only daughter of James Potter…And the only son of Lucius Malfoy…" She ignored the way Harry was gaping at her and beginning to seethe in outrage. "How utterly–" Rita paused to herself as she pondered on the right word to say.

Then, gazing at Harry's furious face again and Draco's amused smile, Rita sighed to herself.

"–_stirring._"

Ignoring Harry's warning growl at her words, Rita turned around and addressed her camera man again. "It's dramatic, sexy, and tragic all at the same time. I _love _it, positively _love _it!" She quipped before turning back around to smile at Draco. "If all else goes badly during the first task today, you two might even make the front page!" She gushed, but before either Draco or Harry could react to this, they were startled by another voice who had spoken behind them, causing Rita Skeeter to whirl around.

"You have no business here, Skeeter." Scowling heavily – perhaps the first time Harry had ever seen such a furious expression on his face – Cedric growled as he strode over to them and placed himself directly in between Harry and Draco. "This tent is for champions and friends." He told her calmly, though Harry knew Cedric well enough to see that his jaw had tightened in obvious unkempt anger.

Rita just smirked back haughtily at him and shrugged, tucking her notebook back into her robes.

"No matter." She turned to glance at Draco, using her fluffy quill to playfully brush his cheek.

"I got what I wanted." She intoned sweetly, causing Draco to wince in disgust when he felt the feathers of her quill tickling his face. Chuckling as she turned to look at Harry; Rita smirked viciously at her, letting her gaze flick back and forth between her and Draco in thought. "My, my, my… You two _do _make a rather attractive couple now, do you? Is that why you and Cedric have broken up?" She asked.

Harry immediately sputtered in indignation at this while Cedric just glowered at Harry before he shook his head and stalked off, moodily storming back inside the tent. Meanwhile, for his part, Draco had remained silent the whole time – but the blonde Slytherin had not stopped smirking since Rita Skeeter had arrived. In fact, Draco looked remarkably relaxed as he leaned back and smiled calmly at her.

"I have absolutely no comment on the matter." He told the reporter simply.

"I do! He's _not _my boyfriend! Cedric is!" Harry snapped angrily at Rita before she growled and yanked her wand out of her pocket, pointing it at Rita's smirking face. "Skeeter, if you haven't got anything better to do than to wreck havoc, I suggest you get out _now _before I hex you into the next century!" She growled at her, and sure enough, after giving both teenagers one last haughty smile, Rita shrugged and gestured to her nearby cameraman, the both of them heading back up towards the stands.

As soon as they were gone, Draco chuckled and spoke up again, straightening himself back up and readjusting his robes. "Well, thanks much for the amusement, Potter. I think I'll be going now–"

"Then _leave, _already!" Harry snapped at him, but just as she was about to head back inside the tent, Draco spoke up behind her again, causing the Gryffindor to stiffen and clench her fists in outrage.

"No goodbye kiss, sweetheart?"

Fuming at his audacity, Harry gave the sneering Slytherin one last smack on the arm, causing Draco to laugh to himself as she growled and stormed back inside the champions' tent in annoyance. Her annoyance was short-lived, however, because the minute she had entered the tent, she had only enough time to glance upon Cedric's wounded glare at her before Ludo Bagman, Dumbledore, Madame Maxime, and Karkaroff all suddenly rushed in and began heading towards their respective champions.

* * *

_Damn it! I'm late! I can't believe I'm late to my own daughter's tournament! _James was seething with rage at himself as he rushed through the crowded Quidditch stands towards the top box, cursing Peter over and over again in his head for scheduling so many damn long meetings for him that morning.

When James finally did manage to make it to the top box, he let out a sigh of relief and practically collapsed in his seat between Dumbledore and Peter, his shoulders heaving with exhaustion.

"Merlin's Beard, Minister…Are you alright?" Peter asked him cheerfully as he turned to look at him. "You look rather exhausted, perhaps you should have sat this one out?" He suggested helpfully.

At his words, James immediately growled and glared at him, his eyes narrowing at the smaller man in annoyance. "I wasn't about to miss my own daughter's first task, you half-brained imbecile! Now, who's bloody idea was it to schedule so many damn appointments for me this morning? I almost didn't make it today!" He snapped at him, causing Peter to wince and offer him a sheepish, apologetic grimace.

"S–sorry, Minister…But your schedule _was _full for today. I just squeezed this free time slot in when you told me you absolutely must _not _miss this tournament. If I may say so, Prongs, we are on a very tight schedule these days, perhaps we could leave a little earlier today– " Peter was cut off sharply when James suddenly growled at him again and cut him off by grabbing him by the front of his robes.

"Pettigrew, my little girl is going to be fighting against that dragon down there. Alone." He hissed at him, his eyes narrowing dangerously as he took in Peter's frightened expression. "I am _not _leaving here until I make sure she's safe and unharmed at _all _costs. So forgive me for saying so, but I don't give a _damn _about the rest of my appointments for this afternoon. I'm staying right _here._" James snapped viciously at him, sneering angrily at the smaller man before he scoffed and shoved him away.

Squeaking in fright as James literally shoved him back into his seat, Peter mumbled a few times under his breath before he grudgingly turned his attention to the start of the tournament again. As he did this, Dumbledore – who had witnessed the entire exchange that had taken place between the two men –chuckled and called James' attention briefly, turning to give the younger man a rather jovial smile.

"It's good to have you here with us today, Minister." He told him, his eyes twinkling as James returned his smile with a rather sheepish one of his own. "Good to be here, Dumbledore." He returned with a similar nod. "Sirius and Remus both send their apologies for declining your invite, Headmaster. You see, I have Sirius working on an important assignment in Albania and Remus is scheduled to oversee a meeting back in the office." James explained to him, earning an understanding smile from Dumbledore.

"Oh your apology is absolutely unnecessary, James. In fact, I'm quite overjoyed at seeing _you _here today instead of them. I believe Sirius and Remus visit Hogwarts often enough to see Harry." Dumbledore chimed in, causing James to hide a sheepish cringe as he looked away. Glancing down at the Quidditch field – which, by now, had already been transformed into a gruesome looking dragon's den with a large nest in the middle – James swallowed the lump in his throat and turned to Dumbledore.

"Am I too late? Has the program already started?" He asked him worriedly.

Chuckling again at the tension he heard in James' voice, Dumbledore shook his head reassuringly at James and patted the younger man encouragingly on the shoulder. "Quite contrarily, you're just in time, Minister. I believe Mr. Bagman should be calling in the first champion in a few minutes. Meantime, while we're waiting, can I interest you in a treacle tart, then?" Dumbledore paused and turned to James again, offering the scowling Minister a pastry from the basket he held in his hand.

"Thanks…Er…I don't eat sweets, Headmaster." James replied with an awkward grimace.

Fortunately, Dumbledore wasn't given an opportunity to respond to this as soon enough, Ludo Bagman had called for the first champion, the one who would be up against the Swedish Short Snout. Eventually, as James watched Cedric Diggory step out into the dragon's den –oblivious to the loud screams and cheers of his housemates – he couldn't help but wince in fear as he watched the young Hufflepuff dodge quickly around the dragon's fireballs, nearly getting himself scorched in the process.

Finally, when Cedric managed to collect his golden egg from the dragon's nest – having successfully distracted the dragon long enough by his transfigured retriever – the crowd of students went wild again and Bagman called on for the next champion to enter the tournament. Deathly pale but still as lovely as he had seen her, Fleur Delacour walked into the dragon's den next and found herself staring fearfully up at a Welsh Green dragon. After a few seconds of her aiming a charm that was to let the dragon fall asleep, Fleur also emerged victorious and walked back to the tent with her golden egg.

The third champion who was called out onto the dragon's den was Viktor Krum – and even James had to note, with a mild hint of resentment on his part, that the way Krum had handled his Chinese Fireball dragon was nothing short of impressive. The Bulgarian seeker hit the dragon square in the eye with a temporary blinding spell, though this same move seemed to have also disfavored him as the dragon began jumping around, eventually squashing the real eggs and causing Krum to lose points.

As expected, the Durmstrang lot of students watching began booing at the judge's decision but none of their reactions was able to sway Barty, Dumbledore, and even Madam Maxime's decisions. In that moment, James was almost thankful that he hadn't been chosen as a judge for the tournament. Other than the fact that it would have been horribly unfair on their part, considering his daughter was one of the tournament's participants, James also doubted that he would have been able to decide fairly when it came to giving scores out to the other champions – he was sure to have been keeping favorites.

Finally, when it came down to the final champion to walk onto the dragon's den – it was to James' utter horror that he found out that his daughter would be facing a Hungarian Horntail, the fiercest and deadliest of all the dragons in the tournament thus far. Paling and swallowing the dry lump in his throat, James ignored the rest of Dumbledore and Peter's comments beside him and sat up in his seat, watching with a tense expression on his face as Harry stepped out slowly into the dragon's den.

At first, it almost looked as though Harry wasn't sure of what she was supposed to do. She began doing the same thing Cedric did – dodging and running away from the dragon's fireballs. When after a particularly nasty roar, the horntail lunged itself at her, breathing fire continuously against the boulder she was hiding behind, James shot up from his seat, held back only by Peter's grip on his arm.

"James, _no! _What are you doing, you can't go barging in down there!" Peter protested sharply as he struggled to keep the Minister of Magic in his seat. The only time James actually relented and allowed Peter to pull him back into his seat was when, to his surprise, Harry finally peered out from behind the boulder she was hiding behind and pointed her wand towards the sky, yelling out a charm.

Though he couldn't hear what she had just said, James could tell that it was apparently the right thing to do because the crowd of students below went crazy and the Gryffindor side of the Quidditch pitch began cheering Harry's name. She waited behind the boulder for a few seconds, ducking down low enough so that the dragon's fire wouldn't burn her skin. When she looked up and saw the object that appeared to be floating slowly towards her, Harry finally jumped up from behind the boulder and ran quickly towards the flying object – which, to James' laughing surprise – turned out to be her Firebolt.

_Atta girl, Prongslet. Just fly around the dragon. _James thought as he watched Harry land gracefully on her Firebolt and zoom into the air, expertly evading the dragon with the grace, ease, and lightness of a natural flyer. Amusingly enough, Ludo Bagman seemed to be thinking the exact same thing and his commentating voice boomed loudly through the Quidditch Pitch, interrupting all the loud cheers.

"Merlin's beard, that girl can _fly! _Are you watching this, Mister Krum? Our little Miss Harriet Potter might just be giving you a run for your money someday soon!" Bagman quipped cheerfully, still watching as Harry finally dived down and managed to swipe the golden egg away before the horntail could notice what she had done. To James' relief, that seemed to have done the trick because soon enough, Harry was flying away with her golden egg and the screaming crowd was cheering her name.

"Will you look at _that?! _Our youngest champion is the fastest one to get her egg!" Bagman exclaimed over the loud cheers and screams of the students. "Did you get all that, Minister? Your daughter certainly takes after her father! That was incredible!" He exclaimed, eliciting even more cheers.

Shaking his head, James had to sneer at Ludo Bagman's obvious attempts at sucking up. Instead of publicly reacting, he turned to glance at his daughter in the air again, watching as Harry smiled and waved to her housemates seated along the benches before she turned and began flying back towards the champions' tent. She didn't get far, however, because as soon as she had reached the center of the dragon's den, the Hungarian Horntail had let out a loud, vicious _roar _of outrage and charged right at her– breaking free from the dragon tamers who had been trying to push the dragon back into the cage.

_That Horntail is heading right for her!_

Panicked and suddenly frantic, James shot out of his seat immediately and, ignoring Peter's attempts to restrain him, began to shout furiously at the Ministry officials nearest the dragon's den.

"Get her out of there! Get her out of there _now!_" He yelled at them, completely oblivious to the sudden gasps and yells that came from the crowd of students watching. In horror, everyone watched as Harry screamed, dropped her egg, and jerked her Firebolt towards the air to avoid the dragon's lunge.

_NO! _James' eyes widened and he flicked his terrified gaze around the scene unraveling in front of him, frantically trying to figure out he could do. Nearby, he thought he heard a couple of Ministry Aurors already clambering out of their seats and rushing down towards the dragon's den but, to his dismay, James knew that they wouldn't be able to make it in time. Glancing back down at the field, he felt his heart lurch painfully in panic when he saw the Hungarian Horntail give a particularly loud, angry roar. Hissing, it spread its scaly wings and quickly shot up into the air, angrily lunging after Harry again.

"_HARRY, STAND STILL! DON'T PROVOKE IT!" _James tried to yell to her from where he was seated all the way up in the highest seats of the Quidditch stands, but it was to no avail. Harry just gave another scream of horror again before she twisted her broom and quickly dived down, barely managing to evade the dragon's fireball. When she managed to lift herself back up, she gave another sharp twist to the right again to avoid the dragon's tail. Then, gasping for air, she whizzed off, flying herself out of the Quidditch pitch and heading towards Hogwarts castle. The Hungarian Horntail gave another terrifying wail before it spread its wings again and flew after her, leaving a trail of fire and broken debris in its path.

As soon as both Harry and the Horntail had faded off into the distance, the watching crowd of spectators began yelling and screaming worriedly amongst themselves, and James was among them.

_No…Dear Merlin, please…No. Not my daughter…Not my daughter…_

He chanted a silent prayer in his head over and over again as he wrenched himself from Peter's grasp and raced down the long steps towards the bottom of the stands. Around him, he heard Dumbledore and some of the other teachers rushing after him and trying to reassure him that they were doing the best they could but James ignored them and continued to push his way down to the field. He only stopped once he managed to reach the cluster of dragon tamers gathered in the dragon's den, most of which were already strapping their protective gear on and getting ready to go after the Horntail.

"Minister, please calm down! We're about to send out our best dragon tamers after them—"

James pushed past the robed official in front of him – who might have been Percy Weasley, he wasn't exactly sure - and rushed forward, seizing the nearest dragon tamer and grabbing his broom. When the tamer jumped back in alarm, James used that opportunity to leap onto the broom and take off, zooming into the air and flying as fast as he could out of the Quidditch pitch towards the Castle.

"_PRONGS, WHAT THE BLOODY HELL DO YOU THINK YOU'RE DOING?!" _

He caught a glimpse of Peter's panicked expression at him as he flew across the Quidditch pitch but James didn't have time to dwell on it any further as he sped furiously towards the castle, his eyes searching desperately around the area for a sign of Harry or the dragon. Luckily, it wasn't long before he caught a glimpse of them – Harry had just narrowly ducked another fireball from the Horntail and was now flying towards the old bridge that joined the entrance of the Hogwarts Castle to the grassy path that led to the village of Hogsmeade. As she neared the bridge, however, another nasty fireball from the dragon forced her off balance, causing the Gryffindor to scream as she was forced to veer off course and accidentally collide with the large boulder that lay mounted at the end of the bridge. Wincing in pain, Harry managed to grab onto a nook of the boulder in time before her Firebolt gave out under her, slipping from her legs and plunging down to the lake below. With her feet dangling dangerously in mid-air above the lake, Harry gasped for breath as she struggled to hold onto the boulder with a single hand.

"_HOLD ON, HARRY!" _James yelled out as he raced his broom toward her, his eyes narrowed in concentration and his heart pounding in terror. A couple of meters behind him, the Hungarian Horntail let out another loud growl again and, upon seeing James there, pointedly decided to change targets and began speeding after him instead. Hissing, it reared its head back and, with another growl, opened its mouth, causing James to wince as he caught sight of the blazing flames hissing in the back of its throat.

_No, Damn it! I don't have time for you right now! _James seethed to himself as he swerved sharply to the left, narrowly avoiding being knocked off his broom with the dragon's large, spiked tail. When the dragon seemed to realize that it missed its target, it gave another snarl and flew around him, attempting to smash into him from the side and causing James to curse as he was forced to recurve.

_Damn it! _

Flicking wide eyes back up, James noted in growing alarm that Harry was barely managing to hold herself up now as she was literally dangling from the boulder, perhaps more than thirty feet above the Hogwarts lake. The grip she had to keep her from falling consisted only of five small fingers, and when her fifth finger gave out, she cried out again as she was forced to slide downward another inch.

"_DADDY'S COMING, SWEETHEART! PLEASE HOLD ON!" _James shouted at her, praying furiously to whatever known deity or divinity there was out there that nothing should happen to his daughter.

The dragon lunged for him again but this time, James anticipated the attack and he spun himself around one of the bridge's legs, baiting the dragon to go after him. As the Horntail snarled and followed his track round the bridge's legs, its large tail snagged against the narrow opening, trapping it in place.

James peered over his shoulder, watching tensely as the Horntail thrashed and wailed about as it attempted to yank itself free. As it did this, James let a sigh of relief and quickly used the lapse to fly towards Harry, pressing himself down against his broom and extending his free hand out towards her.

"_HARRY!" _

She flicked wide, misty green eyes up at him, meeting his gaze with such a terrified expression on her pale features that in that instant, James felt a sharp pang of guilt in his chest as he met her eyes.

"Everything's going to be fine, sweetie. It's all right… Everything's all right. Can you reach for my hand, Harry? I'm just a few inches more above you, can you reach for my hand, Prongslet?" James tried to coax her slowly, taking extra care to make sure that he spoke in a calm, soothing, and reassuring voice.

Harry blinked rapidly and looked up at him for a few seconds as though trying to estimate the distance between them. Then, she gulped and shook her head frantically, her eyes bright with tears.

"I—I can't, Dad…I won't be able to reach you, I—I'll _fall!_" She croaked out, her voice dry and raspy as she struggled to keep her grip on the boulder. James shook his head furiously at this, struggling to maintain his own composure as he managed to move his broom downward and a little closer to her.

"Yes you can, Harry. You can reach up and take my hand, I know you can. Now come on, sweetheart…Reach for my hand—" James' words were cut off at Harry's sharp gasp as she spotted something meters below from where they were, sparkling and dangling just a few inches above the lake.

"Dad! N—no…Mom's locket!"

Following her frantic gaze, James caught sight of the shiny silver locket that hung a few inches above the deep lake, dangerously close to slipping into the blue waters. When Harry began fidgeting impatiently, James called her attention again, diverting her gaze away from the locket to meet his eyes.

"No, sweetheart! Let it go! Don't look at the locket now please! Look at _me, _Harry! Just look at _me!" _He waited until Harry's wide green eyes had flicked back over to him before he spoke again, unable to prevent the slight trembling of his voice. "Let the locket go, Harry, come on… Take my hand now—"

A few feet away, James heard the Horntail again as it began to struggle wildly to yank itself free.

Harry blinked up at him, her eyes hesitantly flicking back to where the locket was just a few seconds of slipping away. "B—but Dad, that's Mom's locket… We can't just leave it like that, I can't—"

"We _have _to, Harry! We _have _to!" James interrupted her firmly, his voice breaking in panic when he heard the dragon growling and flapping its wings about. "_Please, _Prongslet…_listen _to me! Can you jump towards me, love?!" James turned around and peered over his shoulder again, his eyes growing wide when he saw that the dragon had already yanked itself free and was now flying right towards them.

Apparently, Harry saw this as well and she was trembling as she blinked up at him, her eyes growing as wide as saucers. "Dad, I can't! I'm scared…I might _fall!_" She cried before she clenched her eyes shut in panic when another finger lost its grip and she had to struggle to keep herself from falling.

"Harry, _listen _to me!" James tore his eyes away from the dangerously approaching Horntail and looked intently at her, meeting her gaze with a steady, reassuring look of his own despite the rapid pounding of his heart. "You have to _trust _me, love… Daddy's not going to let _anything _happen to you, do you understand me?" He waited until Harry had nodded weakly in acknowledgment at his words before he continued. "Now, you're going to jump from there and grab my hand, and I _promise _you sweetheart… I promise you that I will _catch _you. I'm not going to let anything bad happen to you, I'm _not _going to let you fall. Do you understand, Harry? Do you understand what I want you to do? Nod if you understand."

Terrified but unable to do anything else, Harry nodded weakly at him again and held on tighter.

Swallowing the lump in his throat, James offered her a small, comforting smile at this and nodded back, already pressing himself against his broom again and extending his hand towards her. From the corner of his eye, he thought he saw her locket slipping down from where it hung and plunging towards the lake but James barely gave it any thought and kept his attention focused solely on Harry.

"That's my girl…Alright, Prongslet…On the count of three…I want you to jump okay?" He waited until Harry took a shaky breath before she nodded again. "Alright then…Here we go, Harry…One…" James stiffened when he heard the Hungarian Horntail already coming up behind them. "…Two…_Three!" _

Opening her eyes, Harry released the grip she had on the boulder and jumped towards him, reaching for his outstretched hand. Grunting in exertion, James flew downwards and strained to catch her. As soon as he managed to get a firm grip on her and her hand was clasped tightly in his, James pulled her up, cradling her securely in his arms. Then, when he noticed that Harry had clenched her eyes shut and was clutching tightly onto him, James spun his broom and quickly flew towards the ground.

By then, the Hungarian Horntail had reached them and James barely managed to swerve around it just in time to avoid being scorched to death by the dragon's nasty breath of fire. When the Horntail hissed and headed for them again, James twisted sharply to the side, expertly evading the dragon's lunge and causing it to crash rather painfully against the side of the bridge. To their relief, the force with which the dragon had collided against the bridge's stone walls caused it to lose consciousness instantly, and it emitted a loud groan of pain before it reared back and began plummeting towards the lake below.

As soon as it was gone and James heard a distinct splash somewhere down below from where the dragon had fallen into the lake, he let out a huge sigh of exhaustion and began flying back down towards the school grounds. He made sure to bring them down slowly, as Harry was still shaking slightly in his arms, and when they alighted on the grounds, James immediately released the death grip he had on his broom handle and pulled her against him, wrapping his arms tightly around her trembling form.

"Oh, Prongslet…" James whispered achingly as she collapsed against him and buried her face into his chest just as the tears that had pooled in her eyes began to roll down her cheeks. "Shhh… It's okay… It's okay, it's over…Daddy's got you, sweetheart…It's okay…" He felt a dull pain in his chest as he pulled her closer against him, resting his cheek against her hair and kissing the top of her head. "Shh… It's okay, love…It's done, it's over…You're safe." He soothed her softly, but at the gentleness she heard laced in his words, Harry's sobs only seemed to intensify, and pretty soon, she was crying in his arms.

"D–Dad, I didn't want this…I didn't want any of this, I just–" She cut herself off as another sob issued from her lips but James just hugged her tighter against him and shushed her firmly, shaking his head and stroking her hair gently in comfort. "Shhh…I know, love…I know….I'm sorry…I'm so, so sorry…"

He closed his eyes as a single tear managed to slip from his eyes and roll down his cheek, but whether it was from remorse, relief and maybe just the simple realization that his daughter was safe and _alive – _James wasn't sure. In any case, he continued to stroke her hair gently, his hands trembling with emotion and his voice coming out in soft, raspy whispers as he spoke to her over and over again.

"I'm so sorry, Prongslet…I'm so sorry I didn't believe you…I should have…" He swallowed the lump in his throat and refused to open his eyes even when Harry had hugged him tighter in response.

"I'm so, so _sorry…"_

* * *

**A/N: **A big, wonderful thank you to everyone who's reviewed and followed the story so far! I love receiving all of your inputs and comments about everything; it gives me a lot of inspiration as to which directions I can take with this story. As for suggestions, feel free to keep them coming, I can guarantee you that I do read and consider all of them. :D

**Next Chapter: **Hmm…The Yule Ball? I'm not sure yet, to be honest. What do YOU guys think? (^_~)

**PLEASE DON'T FORGET TO FILL IN THAT PRETTY LITTLE BOX DOWN THERE AND DROP ME A COMMENT! SEE YOU NEXT UPDATE, DEARIES! :D**


	7. Friends, Enemies, and the Like

**Harriet Potter and the Minister of Magic **

**Disclaimer:** I don't own Harry Potter or any of the characters you recognize from the HP books in this story. All I own is the plot. Everything else belongs to JK Rowling.

**Pairings**: DM/femHP (eventual). CD/femHP. RW/HG. BZ/GW. JP/LP (past). SS/LP (one-sided).

**Warnings:** Spoilers from canon (Books 4 to 7). Occasional time jumps from chapter to chapter. Mature content later on.

**Notes: **A big warm hug and lots of love and kisses to everyone who's reviewed and followed the story so far! Wow, I honestly never expected such a positive response when I began to write this story – and I must say I am loving all your encouragement! So with that, as my very own special treat to everyone, I gave in to all your requests after the last chapter – but unfortunately, you'll all have to read on to see what that is! Teehee. Enjoy! :D

* * *

**Chapter 7 – Friends, Enemies, and the Like**

James left early that morning, but not before he had stopped by the Gryffindor Common Room again, called Harry out and had given her a long, tight hug. It was the first time that Harry remembered being able to spend an entire _weekend _with her father – let alone having him taking an extra ten minutes out of his impending busy schedule to come down and say goodbye before he left for work.

It was certainly something she had never experienced before.

She smiled at him as James had pulled away, and after he gave Harry's watching housemates a lazy grin and nod of acknowledgment – to which Parvati and Lavender had giggled to in response – James had dropped one last kiss on the top of Harry's hair and walked out of the Common Room. He had a business trip to Germany that week, Harry knew, and he told her he would be gone a week. But before he left that morning, the two of them had spent the entire weekend just enjoying each other's company, alternating between playing Quidditch, exploding snap, or even touring Hogsmeade Village.

Truthfully, it was one of the best, happiest memories with her father that Harry had in a long time. The other memory was that summer when she was younger –she and James went backpacking around Europe and watched every single match of the Quidditch World Cup as it toured the continent.

Harry couldn't have been older than five at the time, and she remembered that while they were on that trip, her father had regaled her with dozens and dozens of stories of his misadventures at school – and how he, Sirius, and Remus had so often prowled the corridors of Hogwarts during their time and brought prank after prank on each of their unsuspecting targets, whether student or teacher, alike.

Thinking about the memory now still brought a smile to Harry's lips.

"_Harry, what in Merlin's name did you think you were doing?!"_

Blinking herself out of her thoughts, Harry looked up at the exact same moment that Peter Pettigrew had stormed into the abandoned Gryffindor Common Room and threw the latest copy of the Daily Prophet by her feet. Frowning up at him, as soon as she caught a glimpse of the rather compromising picture on the front page, Harry winced and unfolded the newspaper slowly on her lap.

It was a photograph of her and Draco Malfoy – standing very close to each other just outside the Champions' tent, a few minutes away from the start of the First Task. Examining the magical photograph more closely, she watched as picture Draco reached towards her and stroked her chin playfully, which caused picture Harry to blush, take a few steps from him, and tuck her hands shyly behind her back.

_**Harriet Potter and Draco Malfoy – A Forbidden Romance?**_

**Written by Rita Skeeter**

_In the midst of the uproar of the Wizarding World these days over the events of the TriWizard Tournament, it would appear that everyone's favorite teenage rebel is attracting attention once again – but this time, it seems as though she's found a love interest in the unlikeliest of places._

_Harriet Jamie Potter, much like her father, has always been in the spotlight, so it's definitely no surprise that she should find herself in the company of an equally well-known romantic interest – none other than Draco Lucius Malfoy, the only son and heir of reformed Death Eater, Lucius Malfoy. As in the photograph above, the two teenagers were reportedly seen to be very cozy with each other just before the beginning of the First Task. Note that this little encounter of Miss Potter and Mister Malfoy occurred just a few weeks after the public confirmation of Harriet's relationship with Cedric Diggory, the only son of Amos Diggory, active Ministry officer, and one of her fellow champions in the TriWizard Tournament._

"_She and Cedric haven't exactly been on speaking terms for a few days now." remarks vivacious Hannah Abbott, a fourth-year Hufflepuff student and a friend of Cedric Diggory. "There was one time that we saw her flirting with Draco Malfoy in the library. And that was even BEFORE she and Cedric were fighting. We all think that Potter's really a shameless flirt anyway. She pretends to be all boyish so she can hang around boys all the time but the truth is, she's really just craving for attention." She added._

"_I don't like the way she looks at my Draco." says fourth-year Slytherin Pansy Parkinson, Draco's girlfriend. "It's like she's always taunting him for his attention, that girl is just so shameless!" She ranted._

_Certainly, aside from Harry, both Draco and Lucius Malfoy are certainly no stranger to the condescending eye of the public themselves. Not long ago, the Malfoy family was heavily investigated by the Ministry of Magic for any lingering traces of Dark Magic or Artifacts within their Manor. To date, our sources have confirmed that the investigation and the charges have been resolved, but certainly Minister James Potter continues to keep a close watch on the Malfoy family and all of their activities._

_Unfortunately, one can only hope that the Minister will be able to put a stop to his daughter's antics this time as, no doubt, an illicit and two-timing affair between her and the son of a well-known former Death Eater will earn her absolutely no favor from the ever-scrutinizing public. _

_One can only wonder what the Minister of Magic will do about his daughter's little romance._

_Such a shame that it had to come close to his upcoming campaign period for next term too._

"Oh no." Harry whispered under her breath as she paled and set the newspaper back down. She looked up, blinking warily at Peter's angry features. "I _swear _I didn't mean for that to happen at all–"

"How the bloody hell do you expect your father and I to clean this mess up _now?! _Really, Harry? The son of a Death Eater? Is that how low you'll stoop to get James' attention?!" Peter raged at her, his features scrunched up into a menacing scowl. "I'm warning you – stay _away _from that dangerous boy!"

In spite of her guilt, Harry couldn't prevent herself from glaring icily back at him and narrowing her eyes as she set the newspaper back down on the table. "I'm not obligated to do what you say, Peter. You're not my father." She snapped back, feeling a hint of satisfaction when she saw his face turn purple.

Peter returned her glare easily, his eyes flashing at her comment. "I am your guardian–"

"_No, _you're _not, _Sirius is my godfather! You're my father's advisor but not _mine!_" She seethed back, gritting her teeth in annoyance. "Look, I don't like Draco Malfoy any more than _you _do and I _guarantee _you that there is _nothing _going on between the two of us – but that doesn't mean that I'm going to do as you say and avoid him like he's the damn plague! To hell with the bloody media, I have _nothing _to hide!" Harry argued loudly as she stood up, ignoring his glare as she walked out of the room.

"_STAY AWAY FROM THAT MALFOY BRAT_–"

That was all she heard before Harry clambered up the stairs leading to the girls' dormitory and slammed the door shut, effectively cutting off Peter's angry outburst. In her frustration, she didn't come back down again from the dormitories until later that evening – when all of her friends had already gone down to dinner and only she and Hermione were left lingering in their rooms. To be honest with herself, the real reason Harry was prolonging having to go down to the Great Hall as long as possible was that she was _embarrassed _about how she was going to react when people started asking her about Malfoy.

Although she knew that most of what Rita Skeeter had written in that article was completely fabricated, that didn't mean the rest of the Hogwarts population was going to think so too. In particular, she was worried about how _Cedric _was going to react – they hadn't even made up from their last fight. But more _importantly, _Harry had absolutely no _clue _as to how the Slytherins – or Malfoy, for that matter – was going to react to the article. Knowing the git, he'd probably use it to his advantage somehow.

Thankfully, Hermione had tactfully decided not to discuss the issue with her as they walked to the Great Hall together that evening, both girls trying to ignore the whispers and stares at Harry as they passed by. As soon as they got to the Great Hall and Harry slowly inspected the large room, she noted, with a hint of relief, that Cedric was nowhere to be seen. Flicking her eyes over to the Slytherin table, Harry also noticed that Draco seemed surprisingly unperturbed by the Skeeter article altogether and was calmly eating his supper – his arm locked in a death grip by Pansy Parkinson. When the Slytherin girl saw that Harry was staring at them, her scowl darkened and she gripped onto Draco's arm even tighter.

At this, Draco lifted his amused gaze from the table and met Harry's eyes across the room. Chuckling, he smirked at her and arched a single eyebrow in amusement before going back to his supper.

Sighing in exasperation, Harry tried to ignore the outbursts of whispers in the Great Hall as she let Hermione lead her to their seat in the Gryffindor table and sat down. Soon enough, as Hermione regaled her with countless complaints about how annoyed she was that Viktor Krum kept coming to the library with his fan club, Harry began to relax –and the whispers around them began to die down.

"I _swear, _Harry! It's like he does it to aggravate me on purpose! I mean, the reason I go there is because it's quiet and there are no people to disturb me and he just _has _to bring his fan club along with all of their giggles and whispers. It's dreadfully annoying!" Hermione grumbled, picking at her food.

Chuckling, Harry couldn't help but give her an amused smile as she began to load some food onto her plate. "Hermione, I hate to break it to you but Viktor Krum is free to go to the library if he wants to. It's his right too, you know. If you hate it so much, maybe you should consider staying somewhere else." She suggested but at her words, Hermione just flushed slightly and shook her head.

"No, I'm _not _going to be kicked out of the library by that brainless Quidditch git. I'm not even going to give him that satisfaction." She grumbled back, sighing as she looked up and glared silently at Viktor Krum across the room. "Honestly, why do so many girls like him anyway? Is he even that cute?"

"Is _who _cute?"

Harry and Hermione both jumped and looked up just as Ron and Neville sat down across from them, both Gryffindors peering curiously at the two girls in question. When neither of them answered, Ron scowled and directed his glare viciously at Harry. "You two had better _not _be talking about Malfoy, Harry. I read that Skeeter article this morning and I didn't believe it at _all…_But if you two are really–"

"We were talking about Viktor Krum, Ron." Harry interrupted him hastily before he could ask her further about the Skeeter article. "Hermione's just annoyed that he keeps hogging the library and that she can't study with his ever-present fan girl crowd always there surrounding him." She sniggered.

Hermione glared at her, narrowing her eyes at the other girl in warning. "It's _not _funny, Harry! You wouldn't be laughing if you had to study for your Potions test and you'd hear nothing but _giggling–"_

Harry grinned cheekily, shrugging and popping a piece of bread into her mouth. "Ah but the difference between you and me, 'Mione, is that I _don't _study for my Potions test anyway." She quipped, causing Ron and Neville to guffaw loudly in front of them and shake their heads at her in amusement.

Scowling, Hermione let out an exasperated sigh of frustration and looked as though she was about to reprimand Harry for that little remark when a loud shriek of anger suddenly drew their attention from across the room. Blinking, all four Gryffindors looked up in shock just in time to witness Pansy Parkinson – red-faced and seething with anger – jump up from her seat and deliver a particularly painful looking _slap _right on the side of Draco Malfoy's face. Then, when the blonde Slytherin's only response was to blink coolly up at her and give her a calm, patronizing smile, Pansy's face flushed darker and a heartbroken sob issued from her lips before she whirled around and tore right out of the room.

With wide eyes, Harry watched as her two friends – Millicent Bulstrode and Tracey Davis – jump up from their seats as well and tear off after her. In shock, Harry moved her gaze back to the Slytherin table and stared, in disbelief, as Draco had just smirked at the scene before chuckling and leaning over to reward the blonde girl beside him – Harry knew her name as Daphne Greengrass – with a lingering kiss on the cheek. Then, Draco smirked to himself and leaned over to comment something rather loudly to the large group of leering Slytherin boys that were seated around him. They grinned at whatever Draco was saying, and then the large group collapsed in a fit of sniggers and began gathering their things.

As Draco and his friends turned to leave, Daphne Greengrass gathered her things and hurried after them, smiling and attaching herself tightly onto Draco's arm. Arching an eyebrow, Draco rewarded the blonde girl with a lazy smile in response before he allowed her to escort him out of the Hall.

When the entire group had exited the Hall, Harry finally turned back slowly to meet her friends' equally shocked gazes, knowing that she shared the expression of stunned resentment on their features.

"Blimey." Neville had muttered as he tore his gaze away from the direction Draco had gone and shook his head. "And _that _was the prick that Skeeter was trying to associate you with? Who is she kidding, really? Anybody who hasn't been living under a rock for the past two years knows just how much of a shameless playboy Draco Malfoy is." He pointed out, shaking his head at them in disgust.

"Poor Parkinson." Hermione couldn't help but comment as she turned back to her supper. "I mean, I know she must have had it coming after that nasty statement she said about Harry in Skeeter's article but that was a _horrible _way to be broken up with–" She was cut off when Ron snorted wryly.

"If any girl deserves to be dumped in front of the entire school, it's Pansy Parkinson. Besides–" He paused and turned to Harry, giving her a careless shrug. "–think of it this way, Harry. Now that Malfoy's gone and made such a public scene about how much of a playboy he is, it'll take a lot of the negative media attention off you and onto _him. _Now, we can easily pass off that picture Skeeter published as another one of Malfoy's attempts to flirt with you but he didn't succeed." Ron suggested.

In shock, Neville and Hermione gaped at Ron – obviously in shock that he had arrived at a conclusion that was as incredibly ingenious as that. Harry, however, was ecstatic and she grinned widely at him, her eyes lighting up s she reached over and yanked her redheaded friend into an overjoyed hug.

"Ron…you…are…_bloody brilliant!_"

* * *

In the days that followed, Harry was relieved to note that all the buzz centered on her – the TriWizard tournament, and all those articles that focused on her relationship with her father – began to die down. More importantly, all the rumors that had gone flying around the school about her apparently 'secret affair' with Draco Malfoy finally began to simmer. Ron had been right - where once, Harry had to deal with dozens of affronted letters every morning from Daily Prophet readers that demanded to know whether or not she was cheating on Cedric, the hate mail began to lessen as, more and more, Draco Malfoy was seen parading about the school and making out with his new girlfriend, Daphne Greengrass.

As though the hate mail from all of Cedric's female admirers hadn't been torture enough, the worst reaction she had received a few mornings ago was when she received a letter from _Mrs. Weasley _of all people – who demanded that Harry 'drop that Malfoy boy into the garbage bin where he belongs' and that Harry should 'get back with Cedric, he's such a sweet boy, you two make such a lovely couple!'

Even though Ron, in his utter embarrassment, had apologized profusely to Harry and had explained to her that his mother was just keen on reading the gossip tabloids, Harry still felt horrible.

Fortunately, the highlight of the week for Harry was that Cedric had finally come through for her.

She had been walking to her Transfiguration class that morning when, to her utter confusion, a first year Hufflepuff boy she didn't know had walked shyly up to her, handed her the beautiful red rose in his hand and had whispered "He's sorry." before he flushed and fled back towards the Great Hall. In her disbelief, Harry had initially just passed the boy off as similar to Colin Creevey or his brother, Dennis, but just as she was entering the Great Hall much later that day, another Hufflepuff had approached her.

This time it was a girl from her year – Susan Bones – and she was smiling warmly as she offered Harry the rose in her hand. She nodded once at the other girl and simply said, "He's sorry." before walking away. Bewildered, Harry took the rose in her hand and placed it into the vase in her bag – right beside the one the first-year boy had given her that morning. But it didn't come close to stopping there.

As the afternoon progressed, more and more Hufflepuffs were approaching her from the most random places – in the girls' bathroom, in the middle of class, in the middle of the Quidditch pitch, some of them even dropping over to see her in the Gryffindor Common Room. After Harry was more than _certain _that she had received a rose from every _single _Hufflepuff in the school – enough so that the vase she used to hold her flowers was just about full and was bursting with dozens and dozens of roses - she could no longer suppress the foolish, stupid smile on her face as she walked to the Great Hall for supper.

Just as she had reached the Great Hall entrance, she was greeted by yet _another _Hufflepuff – the only one left who hadn't given her a rose yet – but it was _this _Hufflepuff whom she had been waiting for. As she reached the corner, Cedric looked up and met her eyes, a handsome smile on his face as he waited patiently until Harry had stopped just as she was a few inches away from where he was standing.

"Hi."

At his soft greeting, Harry lifted her gaze from her feet and stared up at him, meeting his eyes with her own. Cedric smiled back hesitantly at her, both of his hands shoved into his robe pockets, but when she chose not to say anything back to him for a long time, he cleared his throat and spoke again.

"You…look really pretty today." He told her with a smile, his eyes soft as they rested on her face. Blinking once, Harry paused and stared back uncertainly at him, unsure of what she was supposed to say.

"I always think you look pretty–" Cedric chuckled at his own nervousness and shook his head at himself as he fumbled for what to say. "–but I really like it when you wear your long hair down like that." He reached over and gently took a lock of her jet black hair into his hand, caressing it with his fingers.

Harry didn't say anything at this, and still she continued to watch him quietly – waiting until Cedric had finally stopped caressing her hair and shoved his hands into his pockets again. Then, clearing his throat, the Hufflepuff shuffled his feet a few times before he finally lifted his gaze and met her eyes again – but this time, the genuine remorse and apology in his expression made Harry's expression soften.

"I'm…_sorry._"

Cedric paused and tried to clear his throat when his voice had come out all hoarse and raspy.

"I'm really…really…_sorry_."

Sighing, Harry waited patiently until he looked up at her again and hung his head in shame. "I should have believed you from the very beginning…Not _these _lies." He paused again and lifted a rolled-up copy of the Daily Prophet with one hand before he frowned at himself and dropped it to the floor.

"I've been acting like a jerk these past few weeks…And I know I probably don't deserve your forgiveness but–_._" He kicked the discarded newspaper aside and looked at her again with a remorseful gaze. "–never again, Harry. I'm so sorry." He lifted one corner of his lips into a weak, imploring smile.

Harry continued to remain quiet, watching as Cedric seemed to grow more and more hesitant with every moment that passed between them. Finally, when he began shuffling his feet on the floor again and reminding Harriet of a repentant child, she finally rolled her eyes at him and bit back a smile.

"Oh Cedric…"

She closed the distance between them easily, closing her eyes and allowing Cedric to pull her gently against him until his arms were wrapped securely around her waist and her cheek was nestled against his shoulder. For a long time, neither of them said anything, and Harry was more than content to just allow him to hold her against him. It was only after a few seconds of Cedric stroking her hair that he spoke again, and the lingering uncertainty in his voice made Harry chuckle to herself in amusement.

"So…I'm forgiven then…Right?" Cedric pulled away slightly so he could peer down at her face but he was taken back when he saw Harry smiling teasingly up at him, her eyes bright with good humor.

"Perhaps…" She paused and lifted a hand, pretending to tap her chin in thought. "But then…Where's _your _rose, Diggory?" She pretended to narrow her eyes at him, smiling when the tension on his face finally melted away and he smiled at her – although a bit sheepishly as he ducked his head.

"I don't have any more."

Cedric sounded and looked so ashamed as he said this that Harry had to look away as her shoulders shook with laughter. Hastily, she tried to bury her face against his shoulder to hide her smile.

She didn't have time to tease the Hufflepuff further about his antics, however, because that was when Cedric spoke again and drew her attention to the long, velvet case he had pulled out of his pocket.

"But I _do _have this." He told her softly.

Curiously, Harry watched as Cedric loosened the arms he had around her and held the case up to the light, opening the case slowly to reveal the beautiful, silver necklace that lay nestled inside.

In her shock, Harry flushed and her hand involuntarily went up to touch her bare neck.

"I–is that–"

Reading her thoughts, Cedric rewarded her with another apologetic smile before shaking his head. "It's _not _your mom's locket, Harry…I'm _sorry…_" He sighed as he gently slipped the necklace out of the case and held it up, motioning gently for her to turn around so he could put it around her neck. "I searched the lake for _days _after the First Task but I couldn't find your mom's locket… It must have fallen too deep in that no simple spell or summoning charm will be able to retrieve it." He explained sadly.

Harry felt a pang of loss and heavy disappointment at his words, but at the same time, she felt a warm, fuzzy feeling stirring in the pit of her stomach at the thought of Cedric searching that lake for days just to find her mom's locket. If anything, it showed that the Hufflepuff truly _did _care for her, that this little fight of theirs had truly been just a misunderstanding – just a petty, childish misunderstanding.

As she felt the familiar touch of the cold silver resting against her warm skin, Harry reached out and touched the heart-shaped charm that dangled just a few inches below her throat. When she noticed that Cedric was staring questioningly at her, she smiled and reached up, caressing the older teen's cheek.

"Thank you, Cedric."

He bristled for a few seconds and shook his head in apology again. "I'm so sorry it's not your mom's locket, I just wanted to cheer you up after you lost it during the First Task. I know it's not–"

"Cedric–" Harriet was smiling again as she shook her head at him and cut through the rest of his words by leaning up on her tiptoes and rewarding the flustered Hufflepuff with a chaste peck on the lips. He stopped talking instantly and, as though on impulse, his arms automatically went to wrap around her waist so he could pull her closer against him and prolong the innocent peck into a brief, passionate kiss.

Flushing, Harry looked up at him again as they pulled away and she continued her earlier statement by touching her new necklace again. "–I love it. Thank you for this." She whispered quietly.

Cedric's eyes went soft as he rewarded her with one of his handsome smiles. Without saying anything in response, he pulled her gently against him again and Harry had only time to flush before her eyes began to close just as Cedric was leaning down towards her, his lips ghosting above hers.

* * *

Professor McGonagall was glaring calmly at Harriet and Cedric's angry, flustered expressions just after she had explained the situation to them that evening in Headmaster Dumbledore's office.

"Professor, you _can't _be serious!" Harry protested sharply as she gaped up at the older woman's stern expression again but McGonagall just shook her head and answered her with an exasperated sigh.

"This is completely _out _of my hands, Potter." She told her, before she turned and regarded Cedric's dismayed expression with an arched eyebrow. "Two champions can _not _go to the Yule Ball together as dates, it goes against the tradition of the TriWizard Tournament." She repeated calmly.

"But Professor–" Cedric paused and gave Harry a warning glare to silence her protests before he continued. "–surely you can make an exception just this _once? _I mean, Harry wasn't even supposed to be a TriWizard champion in the first place, she was just dragged into this. We want to go together–"

To their surprise, Professor McGonagall had the temerity to look apologetic as she shook her head firmly at them again and sighed, reaching over and patting Cedric comfortingly on the shoulder.

"I'm sorry, Diggory. But this is my final word on the matter." With that, she turned to Harry and bristled when she saw the angry indignation on the Gryffindor girl's face. "It has been tradition that the three champions – in this case, _four – _formally kick-off the Yule Ball by dancing with their chosen partner in front of all the guests–" Harry looked as though she wanted to speak again but McGonagall held up a hand to silence her before she continued. "–the champions will be introduced _one by one _in front of everyone else….And each one of you will give a short speech to the school before dancing with your dates for the Ball. Now, you see we cannot _possibly _allow two champions to go together." She reasoned.

Harry and Cedric were on her again, however, and the two teens began protesting and speaking furiously at the same time that McGonagall raised a hand and massaged her temples in exhaustion.

"Professor, I find it _ridiculous _that I'm not allowed to go to the Ball with my girlfriend–"

"I can't believe this, Professor! Who am I supposed to go to the Yule Ball with _now–"_

"Oh I'm quite certain that neither of you will find it difficult to retrieve yourselves alternate dates to the Yule Ball." McGonagall drawled at them, surprising both Harry and Cedric at the amused tone of her voice. "Now, if you'll both excuse me, I have a class to prepare for. Good day to both of you."

The Transfiguration Professor left the room before either of them could say another word, and Harry and Cedric stared helplessly at each other, their expressions a mixture of frustration and defeat. Together, they sulked back towards their respective Common Rooms in silence, and once the initial indignation over their predicament had died down, Harry finally relayed her situation with her friends.

She didn't get far into the story, however, because as soon as she had mentioned the words 'The Yule Ball' and 'date', Hermione had begun blushing profusely and before she could say anything else, her brown-haired friend had shushed her and yanked her hurriedly towards the corner of the Gryffindor Common Room. Confused, Ron and Neville stared at them in question but Hermione ignored them and backed Harry into the corner before beginning to ramble to her in hushed, shaky whispers.

When Harry was finally able to somehow make sense out of Hermione's breathless words, her eyes grew as wide and she began laughing, her confused expression melting away into a teasing grin. Har

"Oh Merlin's Beard…Hermione, you _didn't._" Harry whistled to herself and began laughing again, ignoring the flush on Hermione's cheeks as the brown-haired girl tried to shush her by slapping her arm.

"Harry _shush! _You promised–"

"B–b–but…How was I supposed to expect a secret like _this?!_" She laughed as she reversed their positions, still grinning widely as she backed Hermione into the corner of the room. "You silly girl…_Viktor Krum _asked you to the Yule Ball?! Do you have any _idea _what this means?!" Harry exclaimed excitedly.

Blushing miserably, Hermione mumbled something under her breath but Harry didn't quite hear it as she was too busy grinning and thinking of how she would be able to use Krum's interest in Hermione to try and become friends with the popular Quidditch player. "Hey Hermione, if you somehow become Krum's girlfriend, can you promise me that you'll have him teach me his Quidditch moves? Or maybe even get me a spot in the Quidditch league after I graduate? That would be so _wicked–_OW!"

Scowling, Harry rubbed at the sore spot on her arm where Hermione had hit her again and glanced back up, shrinking back against Hermione's warning glare. "Harry, you can _not _tell anyone about this, okay? Not Ron, Neville, not even Cedric! Promise me, Harry!" She hissed, causing Harry to sigh.

"Of course I promise, Hermione." She agreed, albeit reluctantly, causing Hermione to sigh in relief and finally allow Harry to walk them back over to where Ron and Neville were seated by the Gryffindor couches. It didn't actually take long before the four of them were on the topic of the Yule Ball again but to Harry's surprise, instead of asking Hermione out – as Harry had initially expected – Ron had done the unthinkable and blurted out that he had accidentally asked Fleur Delacour to the Yule Ball.

Neville collapsed into a fit of hysterical laughter as Ron said this, and after the two Gryffindor boys had regaled Harry and Hermione with the gruesome story of how Ron had practically thrown himself at Fleur in the Great Hall, Harry was laughing too – though Hermione just looked annoyed.

After this, Ron finally turned to Hermione and told her, rather arrogantly, that if she hadn't been asked yet, he wouldn't mind going with her to the Ball since she was his friend anyway. To Harry and Neville's surprise, Hermione had all but _exploded _at Ron when he said this, and after blatantly telling the gaping redhead that she already 'had a great date' to the Yule Ball, she glared at him and stormed off.

"Bloody hell." Ron turned to Harry and raised an eyebrow at her in question.

"Am I missing something here?"

Having absolutely _no _idea on how she was going to answer Ron's question, Harry looked up and met Neville's knowing smirk at her before she shook her head at Ron and promptly changed the subject. It seemed to work for a few minutes as she, Ron, and Neville began to talk about their favorite Quidditch teams. However, their conversation was cut short just as Lavender and Parvati had entered the room.

As Lavender rewarded Ron with a flirtatious smile, and Parvati did the same by giving Neville a smile of her own, the two boys suddenly stood up. Then, ignoring Harry's indignant protests, Neville began to walk towards Lavender and Parvati with a decidedly determined expression on his face.

Needless to say, Harry _really _didn't feel good afterwards as she was walking out of the Gryffindor Common Room that afternoon beside her two male best friends – Ron and Neville – who were both grinning like idiots after having triumphantly managed to get themselves dates for the Ball.

"I can't _believe _you two." Harry grumbled at them just as they were turning the corner and heading towards the Great Hall. "The reason I wanted to talk to you this morning was because I was going to ask if _either _of you would be willing to go with me to the Yule Ball." She told them miserably.

Fortunately enough, her anger was easily placated when she saw how both Neville and Ron had given her matching looks of surprise at her words and they both seemed to genuinely regret their decision. Nevertheless, Harry waved their apologies away and reassured them that it wasn't their fault.

_Ron's with Lavender…Neville's with Parvati…And Hermione just got the prize of the century, she's going with Viktor Krum. And here I am, a TriWizard Champion who can't go to the Ball with her boyfriend and doesn't have a date because her two male best friends bailed out on her. _Harry thought grumpily.

_So… Who am I supposed to take to the Yule Ball now? _She asked herself gloomily as she followed Ron and Neville down the crowded corridors towards the Great Hall. Around them, she could hear girls giggling loudly and off on the side, she caught a glimpse of a group of nervous looking fifth year Ravenclaw boys, some of which were hesitantly glancing towards a group of Beauxbatons girls nearby.

One of the older Ravenclaw boys in the Hogwarts courtyard – she couldn't really remember his name, Harry just knew that he was in the same year as Cedric – had looked as though he was about to walk over to her. Unfortunately, before the Ravenclaw boy even got close, however, Harry was startled when she felt a small hand clamp down on her shoulder, causing her to jump and whirl around in shock.

"Oh my…I'm so sorry, Harry! I didn't mean to scare you."

Narrowing her eyes, Harry involuntarily stiffened when she found herself staring into Cho Chang's equally startled expression. The Ravenclaw had approached her from behind, and after glancing warily at Cho again to gauge what she wanted, Harry sighed and managed a polite smile in question.

"Hi Cho…It's alright, I just…It wasn't your fault. I was jumpy, is all." Harry forced another smile at her face as she met Cho's slightly hesitant expression again and nodded. "Is there anything you need?"

Nodding slowly, Cho stared uncertainly at her for a few minutes – as though trying to sort the words out carefully in her head – before she bit her lip and tucked a lock of hair shyly behind her ear. "Actually, I just wanted to apologize to you, Harry…And to formally ask you for your permission to go with Cedric to the Yule Ball this weekend. You see–" Cho had caught the look of dismay on Harry's face before the Gryffindor could hide it, and the apologetic grimace on her face strengthened tenfold.

"–Cedric _really _wanted to go with you, but given the circumstances of things, he asked me instead. And well… though Cedric is my friend and all, I just wanted to make sure that you were okay with it too. I mean–" Cho offered her a friendly smile before she reached over and placed a gentle hand on her arm. "–I just don't want you to think badly of me. That was why I wanted your permission first." She said, and in spite of herself, Harry could not help but sigh at the sincerity she heard in Cho's voice.

Her approach had been genuine and classy – that much, Harry had to admire – and she found that even if she wanted to hate the girl, she also realized that she respected Cho's efforts in telling her first. Sighing again, Harry managed a smile at the other girl – a real one this time – and nodded slowly.

"I appreciate it Cho…And no, I don't mind. Thank you for telling me this yourself." Harry assured her, and when Cho's shoulders finally seemed to relax in relief, Harry chuckled and spoke to her again.

"Did Ced put you up to this?" She asked, causing Cho to blush again and quickly shake her head.

"Oh! N–no, he doesn't even know I'm doing this. Please don't tell him though; he'd just be embarrassed about this entire thing and get mad at me." She laughed to herself and shook her head before her expression sobered as she glanced at Harry again. "I think it's dreadful that you guys can't go to the Yule Ball together, you know…It's horrible of them to force you apart like that." She told her softly.

Harry shook her head at Cho's words and offered the older girl another small smile. "We tried but McGonagall specifically told us that we can _not _break the rules. Anyway–" Harry glanced around the courtyard, relieved to find that Ron and Neville were waiting for her by the end corner. "–I'd better get going. Thanks again for telling me, Cho. I really appreciate it." She told her, nodding at her in gratitude.

When Cho smiled back at her and promptly did the same, the two girls finally separated and Harry slowly made her way back to her friends. As she crossed towards them, Harriet noticed that a huge group of Slytherin fourth years and fifth years were lounging around the benches circling the large, oak tree that sat right in the middle of the courtyard. Although curious, she was just about to walk around the group when another figure had called her attention from the right by grabbing onto her arm.

"Wha–" Harry whirled around, blinking when she came upon the sight of a lanky, mousy-haired boy from Gryffindor – she couldn't even remember his name – looking at her and giving her a wide smile.

"Harriet–" He paused, completely unaware of the way Harry had suddenly stiffened when she glanced over the boy's shoulder and noticed the two hulking figures approaching him from behind. "–I know you're with Cedric and all but I was wondering… Would you go to the Ball with me?" He asked.

Sputtering at him, Harry started to open her mouth – her eyes focused not on the boy but on the two approaching students coming up behind him. Before she could even utter a word, one of the approaching figures placed a heavy hand on the Gryffindor boy's thin shoulder, causing him to squeak.

Looking up, Harry winced at the warning glares she found on Crabbe and Goyle's sneering faces right before the latter grabbed the Gryffindor boy by the robes and held him about three feet in the air.

"Y–yikes! I–I mean…No, I'm sorry…Let me go, I'll run along now–"

Narrowing his eyes, Goyle lifted the boy even higher up into the air – high enough so that the boy could see the menacing glint in Goyle's eyes – before the Slytherin sneered at him and hissed loudly.

"Get lost…_pipsqueak!" _

Laughing, Goyle dropped the other boy as though he were a mere sack of potatoes, and as soon as the boy's feet hit the ground, the Gryffindor didn't even bother glancing at Harry again before he scampered out of there, running as fast as he could towards the Gryffindor Common Rooms. As soon as he was gone, Goyle and Crabbe glanced at Harry and, without a word, sandwiched her between them.

"Hey!" She protested sharply as she was led – or rather, _dragged –_ by the two huge Slytherins towards the very center of the courtyard in front of the large Oak tree. Growling, Harry struggled wildly against them, her eyes darting wildly around the area for a sign of either Ron or Neville but they were nowhere to be seen. To her dismay, they heard a familiar drawling voice that spoke to them from above.

"You can drop her there, Goyle."

Looking up, Harry gaped and watched with flashing green eyes as Draco Malfoy – who up until now had been watching them from where he was seated lazily up in the tree – dropped down effortlessly onto the ground in front of her. Then, with a sideways smirk, the blonde Slytherin stared curiously at Harry for a few seconds before he chuckled and impatiently waved Crabbe and Goyle away.

"Good. You two can get lost now." He scoffed, indicating for the two larger boys to leave.

Harry glanced cautiously around the area again, feeling particularly unnerved that so many Slytherins were watching them. Sensing her nervousness, Draco chuckled and smirked teasingly at her.

"How are you doing today, Potter?" He paused and took in her attire that afternoon – a fitted white blouse over a stylish green skirt that ended a few inches above her knees – and his smirk widened, his eyes lingering for a few seconds on her legs. "Any golden snitches I should look out for?"

Blushing heatedly at the inherently suggestive nature of his comment, Harriet glared back at him, crossing her arms over her chest. "Quit the rubbish, Malfoy. What is it that you found so important to talk to me about that you had your goons accost me and drag me all the way over here?" She demanded.

Draco grinned smugly at her question, his gray eyes sparkling with mischief as he took a few steps closer towards her and lowered his voice so that none of the other Slytherins could hear them.

"Payment." He said simply.

She blinked at his strange response, one of her eyebrows arching up at him in question.

"Payment?" She echoed blankly, causing Draco's lips to twitch as he nodded in agreement.

"Yes, Potter. Payment. You see, Harry–" He mimicked her position, crossing his arms over his chest and leaning back against the tree behind him "–I'm a _Slytherin…_And as you very well know, we _Slytherins—_" He paused and gestured to his housemates gathered around them. "–do not just give other people _favors _without expecting them to be repaid in full." His grin widened when he noticed that Harry seemed to have caught on to the full meaning of his remark, and she began to pale in realization.

Swallowing audibly, she subconsciously took another step away from him but Draco went on.

"We're not like you Gryffindors_, _you see…Selfless and noble…" Draco scoffed and rolled his eyes. "We're not naïve and _nice _like those Hufflepuffs, either. No…We're…_fair._" He ignored the way Harry's eyebrows had ridden up in disbelief at his words. "Fair in a way that _everything _has a price…And lucky for you, Potter…I was feeling particularly generous that day I decided to help you out." He added snidely.

"Now then…If I remember correctly…" Draco paused again and pretended to tap his chin in thought. "I seem to recall that I have yet to extract repayment from _you _for my…shall we say, extremely valuable services?" He spoke the words in such a way that they sounded suggestive enough to make Harry blush again – and he knew it. Smirking, he arched an eyebrow at her blushing face and continued.

"So…Now that we're here…I've decided that it's just about time to collect my dues, Potter." He sneered and looked at her, watching in amusement as Harriet sighed and eyed him in reluctant defeat.

"Alright…What do you want from me, Malfoy?" She asked, narrowing her eyes suspiciously at him. To her surprise, however, when Draco seemed to hesitate for a few seconds at her question. In fact, if she didn't know any better, she could have sworn that the blonde looked almost _sheepish _as he tried to think of what to say –until Harry's eyes narrowed even further at him and she snapped impatiently.

"Well?!"

Draco looked at her again, and as soon as it had appeared, the hesitant expression on his face was easily replaced by another one of his superior smirks. "Allow me to explain the situation, Potter." He stepped closer towards her and lowered his voice until it was barely above a whisper – just loud enough so that only Harry could hear him and nobody else. "You see…This morning, my friends and I sort of made this little…wager…as it were…" He noticed the way Harry was already beginning to growl at the direction his explanation was taking but Draco hastily continued. "The wager was…'the one who goes to the Yule Ball with the prettiest girl' wins…And well–" Draco gulped when he saw the way Harry's eyes were flashing dangerously. "–I really want to make sure I _win, _Potter…So I thought maybe–_OW!" _

All but hissing in anger, Harry was unable to prevent herself from cursing as she had grabbed Draco by the shell of his ear and yanked him aside, leading them a few more steps away from the watching Slytherins around them. As soon as they were out of earshot, she exploded angrily at him.

"So what, did you think that I would just agree to your plan just like _that?! _Are you bloody crazy, Malfoy?! Did you not see the damage that Skeeter article almost did to _both _our reputations?!" She snapped at him, feeling a sense of satisfaction when she saw the way he was wincing sheepishly at her.

"What's the prize?" Harry asked him pointedly, narrowing her eyes at him in challenge.

At this, Draco ducked his head behind his hand and answered her with an impish grin.

"A brand new Firebolt." He admitted, and in her annoyance, Harry exploded angrily at him again.

"I can't believe your nerve, Malfoy–"

"Alright, alright…I _know _it wasn't the best plan but _think _about it from my point of view, Harry." Draco noticed the way Harry had blinked at him in surprise at his use of her first name but he continued before she got a chance to point it out. "I made the bet with Zabini, Nott, Smith, and Flint. Now… You _know _those four and with the exception of Zabini, I'm quite positive that those idiots will never be able to get a decent enough girl to go with them. Now, _Zabini _on the other hand…I think he's got his sights set on some Ravenclaw girl…But then again…" Draco smirked and arched an eyebrow pointedly at her.

"If I went with _you…_A TriWizard champion, to boot…I _know _I've got this thing in the bag. So–"

"I'd have to ask Cedric first." Harry interrupted bluntly, her eyes narrowed pointedly at him.

Visibly annoyed, Draco just sneered at this and arched an eyebrow at her in challenge. "And yet, you can't go with Diggory to the Yule Ball, can you? Champions aren't allowed to go together anyway." He retorted with another smug, taunting smile that Harry oh-so-wanted to wipe off his handsome face.

"Why don't you just go with your girlfriend, Malfoy?" She blurted out in exasperation.

Draco just looked amused at this, shaking his head and answering her with another lazy smirk.

"I dumped her."

"Again?!"

Harry gaped at him, her eyes growing as wide as saucers as she darted her gaze around for a glimpse of Daphne in the courtyard. She found the girl crying beside Pansy Parkinson in the corner of the courtyard, but when they saw Draco and Harry looking at them, they glared back and stomped away.

"Merlin's beard, Malfoy…" Harry shook her head to herself and glanced back at the blonde Slytherin, glaring angrily at his self-satisfied smile. "Have you no compassion at all?" She hissed at him.

"None whatsoever, it would seem." Draco chuckled before he shoved his hands into his pockets.

"They bored me, Potter." He blinked and raised his eyes up to meet hers. "More than anything else, I _despise _girls who bore me." Draco told her, causing Harry to give him another disgusted glare.

"So just go with Fleur Delacour then! I'm sure she'd get you to win your stupid bet!" She tried to reason with him but Draco just laughed at her and shook his head before giving her a charming smile. With a particularly flirtatious smirk, he reached over and idly caressed a long lock of her jet-black hair.

"Ah…but I _much _prefer dark-haired girls to blondes, Potter." He told her, smirking shamelessly.

"I'll be sure to dye my hair _blonde _then!" She snapped at him. Unfortunately, her little remark accomplished nothing but cause Draco to laugh again, his eyes alight with humor as he grinned at her.

"So what do you say, Potter?" He asked again, watching with a decidedly amused smile on his face as a myriad of different emotions crossed her features. For a few long moments, her expression varied between panic confusion, and even desperation, but when she glanced up at Draco again and noticed that the Slytherin was growing rather impatient from waiting, she shook her head at him again.

"My Dad…Once he finds out…He wouldn't want me going with you–"

"Well then, it's time you stopped doing whatever he told you then." Draco cut her off smoothly.

"Cedric might get angry–"

"I'm sure your little pretty-boy Hufflepuff will get over it." He scoffed derisively.

"Peter said that–"

"I don't give a _damn _what that disgusting runt of a man thinks, Potter. And neither should you." Draco cut her off coldly, his eyes flashing in annoyance as he arched an eyebrow pointedly at her again.

Unable to think of anything else, Harry swallowed the lump in her throat and tried one last time.

"Rita Skeeter might be there again–"

"And I _told _you before that you should _never _let people like that woman affect you anyway. Whatever she says – or what anybody else says, for that matter – shouldn't mean a damn thing. You just have to stop letting yourself be bothered by it, Potter." Draco told her, his voice thick with exasperation.

He had a point, and she knew it but when Harry still stubbornly refused to say anything else and continued to glare angrily at him in defiance, Draco finally let out an angry sigh and spoke again.

"Alright…I didn't want to have to resort to this…But you leave me no choice." He sneered as he walked right up to her, stopping just as his face was inches from her own. "I _know _that you cheated on the First Task, Potter…How disgraceful." His sneer widened when he saw the way Harry's face had gone white in horror. "Imagine what the Wizarding newspapers would think…When they found out that the Minister's beloved daughter…is a disgraceful little cheat." Draco smiled triumphantly at her pale face.

"You wouldn't dare." Harry whispered quietly, backing away from him.

Draco arched a single eyebrow tauntingly at her, looking bored at her words.

"You're challenging a Slytherin, Potter…? Really...?" He blinked and smiled back at her, meeting her furious glare with a calm look of his own. When a few more tense seconds had passed and Harry looked as though she was just on the verge of tearing his eyes out, Draco relented and spoke up again.

"Look, let me make you a deal, Harry." He glanced cautiously around them again, knowing that by now, the other Slytherins were already wondering what was taking their conversation so long. "You go with me to the Yule Ball…And in return, I'll give you another piece of important information that you need to know." Draco smirked at the unmistakable curiosity that had sparked in Harry's narrowed eyes.

"And what could that possibly be, Malfoy?" She asked sarcastically, looking at him in disbelief.

Draco's lips tugged upwards into another superior smile before he answered.

"I'll tell you _exactly_ how to solve that golden egg clue of yours."

Gaping in disbelief and yet, knowing full well that if _anyone _knew how to solve that egg clue, it would be Draco; she clenched her fists slowly and lifted her green eyes up so that she was staring at him.

"And what if I told you that I could figure that clue out by myself anyway?" Harry challenged.

To her dismay, Draco just snorted and shook his head at her in blatant disbelief. "If you _could _figure it out by yourself, Potter, you'd have done so already." He grinned at her again, already knowing her answer. "_I, _on the other hand…know _exactly _how to solve the clue. All you have to do is say yes."

As soon as the words had issued from his lips, Harry _knew _he had her– and if Draco's triumphant smirk was anything to go by, he _knew _he had won. Gritting her teeth, she pointedly chose to ignore the fact that a lot more Slytherins were watching them now and finally nodded, glaring angrily at him.

"_Fine._" Harry hissed at him, her eyes blazing with indignation at having been manipulated so easily by her arch rival like that. To her horror, however, Draco didn't seem to be finished yet as his grin widened and he reached over, yanking Harry by the arm and dragging her back to the other Slytherins.

When they got close enough for everyone to hear them again, Draco suddenly smiled and raised his voice – loud enough so that _everyone_ gathered around the Hogwarts courtyard could hear him.

"_WILL YOU GO TO THE YULE BALL WITH ME, POTTER?" _

Seething with anger, Harry would have loved more than _anything _to wipe the cocky smirk off Draco's face if she could but to her frustration, all she did was grit her teeth and nod back slowly at him. Unfortunately, this seemed not to have been enough for the blonde Slytherin as he frowned at her response and shook his head pointedly at her before he spoke up again, making his voice even louder.

"_I'M SORRY, POTTER, I COULDN'T HEAR YOU…WILL YOU GO TO THE BALL WITH ME?"_

Her face burning as red as a tomato, Harry swallowed the horrified scream that was inching its way up her throat as she looked up at Draco's smirk again and somehow managed to find her voice.

"Yes, Malfoy…I would _love _to go to the Yule Ball with you." She croaked out, but in truth, the miserable tone of her voice didn't really matter at all because as soon as Draco's friends heard her words, the group of Slytherin boys around them erupted into a chorus of amused whistles and catcalls.

_ "Nice one, Malfoy!" _

_"Way to go, ladies man!" _

_ "Good job, Draco!" _

Blushing horribly, Harry could only glare at Draco in indignation but the blonde barely even noticed her ire as he turned around, flashing all his cheering friends a smug, self-satisfied smirk. When Harry called his attention again and Draco pointedly ignored her, she finally growled and marched right over to him, yanking the blonde impatiently off to the side and hissing angrily at him under her breath.

"You know what, Malfoy…I haven't a single _clue _as to why you're so intent on humiliating me in front of everyone like this… But I have _got _to say–" Harry's eyes narrowed and she managed a sneer of her own as she glared at him. "–if _blackmail _is the only way a loser like you ever manages to get a girl to go with him, then it just goes to show how _pathetic _you really are." She didn't bother saying anything else, nor did she bother looking at him as Harry whirled around after she had said this and stalked off.

* * *

Draco scowled to himself as he stared at Harriet's retreating back, watching in exasperation as the Gryffindor stomped away. Truth be told, he felt more than a little frustrated with himself about the fact that the only reason Harry had even agreed to go to the Yule Ball with him was because he had resorted to bribing her about her golden egg _and _threatening her with blackmail – it was something he hadn't preferred to do at all – but he supposed that the outcome of the ordeal was worth it anyway.

After all, he was going to the Yule Ball with the most beautiful girl in the school.

"Come with me, Draco_."_

Draco was snapped out of his thoughts when he felt a heavy hand on his shoulder, causing him to whirl around and stare up into Professor Snape's disbelieving and reproachful glare. Without saying a word, Snape narrowed his eyes at him and, ignoring the other Slytherins around, nodded once before grasping Draco by the arm and promptly leading him down the hallway towards the Potions classroom.

As soon as they were inside the classroom and outside of earshot, Snape rounded on him instantly, and Draco had only enough time to stumble against the chair in alarm before Snape exploded.

"What in _Merlin's _name did you think you were doing out there, Draco?!" He growled, but before Draco could open his mouth to respond, the older Slytherin grasped him by the front of his robes and jostled him in alarm. "What did you hope to accomplish by making a scene out there in front of everyone who was watching?! Didn't I tell you to _stop _drawing attention to yourself?!" Snape seethed.

Feeling a surge of irritation at Snape's words, Draco's eyes narrowed as he glared back at his godfather and answered him with a growl of his own. "I wasn't drawing attention to myself, Severus! All I did was ask Potter out to the Yule Ball, was that really such a big deal?" He retorted in exasperation.

Snape's eyes flashed in panic as he rounded on him again, leveling the younger boy with a wide-eyed, warning glare. "That is precisely _it, _Draco! You can _not _afford to be hanging around Harriet Potter – we _both _can not afford to be hanging around Potter! Do you not understand what that means?!" He didn't give Draco a chance to answer as he growled and slammed his hand onto the table in front of him.

"Don't you remember what Dumbledore said?! We can _not _be seen associating ourselves with the Minister or his daughter! They are nothing but political sharks out to eat us alive! Hanging around Potter would put not only _our _lives at stake, but it would endanger _hers…_Do you understand, Draco?!"

For the life of him, Draco _didn't _understand at all – so he just shook his head at the older man as though he was crazy and glared at him. "No, I _don't _understand at all, Severus. Harriet is _harmless–"_

"This is more than just falling for a pair of pretty green eyes, you brat!" Snape raged at him, inadvertently causing Draco to flush slightly at the implication of Snape's words. Sighing, the Potions Master ran a hand through his disheveled hair in frustration. "Look…I don't have time to explain everything to you now, boy…But you have to take my word on this. Mine _and _your father's." He paused; noting the way Draco had sobered at the mention of his father. Snape grabbed the latest copy of the Daily Prophet and tossed it onto his desk, allowing Draco to see the large picture on the front page.

It was a picture of James Potter and Harry Potter – both of their smiling photographs splashed out in color on the large page – and underneath were another series or articles centered around them. Sneering, Snape slammed his hand on the newspaper and pointed mockingly at Harriet's photograph.

"Draco, we can't afford to let ourselves get sucked into their political games…" Snape's expression lightened a bit when he saw the understanding dawn in Draco's features. "You are the son of a Death Eater…Your father is still branded as a Death Eater…_I'm _still branded as a Death Eater…" He pointed to Harry's picture again and shook his head. "And wherever _this _girl is…There are sure to be political _snakes _everywhere… Sniffing around…Just waiting for the perfect opportunity to strike." Snape let out an exasperated exhale of breath and finally collapsed against his seat in exhaustion. "One wrong move and the Ministry will be sniffing us out like prey. We'll be lucky if they even decide to lock us up rather than kill us…Or worse, they'd give us up to the Dementors." Snape told him with a grim smile.

Paling at his words, Draco swallowed the lump in his throat and shook his head at him in denial. "N–no, they wouldn't do that, Severus… They _can't _do that…Dumbledore promised you and my father that if you both switched loyalties, he would be able to protect us from the threat of those Aurors–"

Snape sneered at him, rolling his eyes and scoffing in disbelief. "This is _hardly _just about protection from the Aurors…This is about protection from the _entire _Ministry of Magic." He drawled.

Draco shook his head at him again. "James Potter would never allow such injustices. He's–"

"–a _lot _darker than he makes himself appear to be, Draco…" The vicious sneer on Snape's face turned particularly nasty as he stood up and crossed the room, staring out through the dungeon window. "In fact, I could regale you with endless stories right now about just how much of a _fan _James Potter was of dark magic back in his day." His eyes narrowed to himself, but Draco could no longer understand him.

"And of course, let's not forget about Potter's precious pet rodent too…That detestable scumbag of a man, Peter Pettigrew…" Snape's sneer hardened and he shook his head in disgust. "Your father tells me that he's still investigating that rat…Something about him really doesn't seem right."

Sighing in frustration, Draco glared up at him and narrowed his eyes at the older man in anger. "I'm still _really _confused, Severus. And I think that there are still a lot things that you _and _my father are not telling me." He accused bluntly, watching as Snape just blinked and stared at him without a word.

When after a long moment of silence, Snape _still _wouldn't say anything else, Draco finally sighed and looked away, scowling as he stood up and walked over to the window. "I already asked Potter out to the Yule Ball, Severus…So what; do you want me to take it back?" He asked with an irritated scowl.

Snape pondered on his question for a few seconds, his eyebrows fused together in thought. Finally, he glanced back at Draco again and shook his head. "No…Not just yet, Draco…" He leaned back against his seat and sighed. "Let me talk to Albus about this first…" He raised a hand to massage his temples in exhaustion. "Maybe…We can actually use this stunt of yours to our advantage." He mused.

Draco glanced away from where he was looking out the window and stared at Snape in surprise.

"What do you want me to do, then?"

Snape flicked his glare back up at him and leveled the blonde with a pointed look. "Just…Keep a close watch on Harriet Potter for now…Don't let her suspect anything about us." He replied, but when Draco's response was to grin and shrug carelessly at him in agreement, Snape's eyes flashed in warning.

"And for Merlin's sake, whatever you do, do _not _get involved with that blasted girl!"

* * *

**A/N: ** Aaaand…How's _that _for another twist in the story? What do you all think – do you think that we can trust Snape or Draco this time? How about Lucius? Or Dumbledore? Maybe we need to read on further to find out? More importantly, who are the _real _bad guys here anyway? Mwahahahaha! :D

**Next Chapter: **The Yule Ball (wink-wink, nudge-nudge) _and _The Second Task

As usual, _do _share your thoughts about this one with me, sweeties! I would _love _to hear all of your opinions, comments or ideas about the story – especially on what bits of canon you want to see changed. So…before I forget, _**PLEASE LEAVE A REVIEW, MMKAY? UNTIL NEXT TIME, CHEERS! :D**_


	8. What Lies Beneath

**Harriet Potter and the Minister of Magic **

**Disclaimer:** I don't own Harry Potter or any of the characters you recognize from the HP books in this story. All I own is the plot. Everything else belongs to JK Rowling.

**Pairings**: DM/femHP (eventual). CD/femHP. RW/HG. BZ/GW. JP/LP (past). SS/LP (one-sided).

**Warnings:** Spoilers from canon (Books 4 to 7). Occasional time jumps from chapter to chapter. Mature content later on.

**Notes: **My _sincerest _apologies for the long wait everyone! As usual, I have been busy (and unjustly _overworked, _if I may add) with so many projects for work lately that I've been scraping for time to write out a new chapter. Fortunately, I was able to sneak in a few writing hours every now and then during break times or lunch times. Ehehe. So, without further ado, here's the next chapter! Enjoy! :D

* * *

**Chapter 8 – What Lies Beneath**

"Smile for the cameras, Potter." Draco's smile was particularly smug as he turned Harry towards the approaching camera for the fifteenth time that night and gave the photographer a handsome smile.

Wincing at the particularly sarcastic tone of Draco's voice, Harry literally had to force a smile onto her face as she stepped towards the center of the Hall, her hand wrapped gingerly around Draco's arm and her body wrapped in a beautifully tailored, white evening dress. Her dark hair, which she normally left down to frame her face, was up in curls and was pinned expertly to the top of her head, and her features were accentuated with the slightest hint of make-up. Around them, she thought she could make out some of the stares they were receiving from the other students around the room but for the life of her, Harriet couldn't seem to focus on anything else except for what she was about to do next.

"Thank you very much for your wonderfully enlightening speeches, dear Champions! You're all winners in my book!" Ludo Bagman chimed in cheerfully as he gave the crowd a conspiratorial wink – which unwittingly caused Harry to wince to herself as she thought of how her own speech had gone.

Evidently, Draco seemed to be thinking the exact same thing.

"Is he kidding me?" He snorted and shook his head, lowering his voice so that none of the other champions or their partners could hear them. "Your speech was absolute _rubbish, _Potter! A flobberworm could have delivered it better. It's a wonder you're related to your father." He mocked snidely, causing Harry to stiffen in annoyance and glare spitefully at him through narrowed eyelashes.

"Shut _up, _Malfoy! I don't need your opinion." She seethed, barely restraining herself from punching the older teen when his only response was to smirk wider at her reaction and shrugged at her.

"I was just telling you the truth, Potter…" Draco paused after he said this and his eyes suddenly narrowed very meaningfully at her. "…And believe me, Potter…. These days, you'd do well to realize that people who are willing to tell you the _truth_ are hard to come by." He drawled under his breath.

Her eyes still narrowed, Harry turned to her side to snap again – but just as she had opened her mouth, Draco beat her to it when he suddenly smirked at her and gave her an oddly appraising look. "So with that, insults aside, I _do _have to compliment you on your appearance tonight, Potter." Draco's eyes seemed to gleam teasingly as he allowed his gaze to linger up and down her form, causing her to blush.

"You look gorgeous." He added as his smirk transformed into a self-satisfied grin. Harry blushed at his comment and quickly dropped her eyes to the floor. "And as I said, coming from me, you can be sure that the things I say are never idle flattery. I speak the plain, ugly truth." He told her wryly.

"I'm _flattered _then_, _your highness." She hissed sarcastically at him under her breath, rolling her eyes and averting her gaze back to where Cedric and Cho were standing a few feet away from them.

As part of the program highlights for that evening, Ludo Bagman had announced to all of the students that the Champions were to deliver a short, individual speech in front of all of their friends and all of the media. Then, after all of the Champions had finished, the four of them were to officially kick-off the Yule Ball by performing a simple waltz with their respective partners for everyone around the room.

Truth be told, as Harry gulped and stared nervously at the dozens of curious faces turned towards them around Great Hall, she couldn't help but grasp Draco's arm even tighter in anticipation. Unfortunately enough, Draco seemed to notice her discomfort and he turned this head to glance at her.

"Relax, Potter." Draco chuckled and placed a hand over the one she had on his arm. Then, he pretended to look at the flashing cameras and rewarded the large crowd with his easy, reassuring smile. "The more you look nervous, the more you'll draw the attention toward us…Just wave a few times and smile. These idiots are as easy to fool as dim-witted sheep anyway." He whispered under his breath.

Gulping, she nodded at his words and tried to follow his advice by imitating his actions – waving and smiling at the crowd. Most of their fellow classmates looked shocked at their pairing that night, while the remainder of the school looked torn between anger and curiosity. Mostly the shock came from her fellow Gryffindors, while a mixture of scandalized horror and betrayal came from the Hufflepuffs, amused indifference from the Slytherins, and – not surprisingly – bored curiosity from the Ravenclaws.

Harry couldn't help but feel a flicker of chagrin when she saw the expression on Ron and Neville's face. Actually, while Neville definitely looked shocked when he saw Harry's date, Ron was much more preoccupied with Hermione and Viktor Krum than anything else. In fact, Harry doubted that Ron had even noticed that she was there at all; his eyes had just been focused on Hermione the entire time.

_I can't really blame him though. _Harry thought with a genuine smile as she glanced back over to their right to where Hermione was standing beside Viktor Krum. The brown-haired Gryffindor was wearing a beautiful periwinkle gown, with her hair down up in curls and her face highlighted with pastel shades of make-up. She looked very pretty, and Harry noticed that some of the guys had noticed too.

"All right then, Champions! Dancing positions, if you please!" Ludo Bagman's cheerful voice suddenly broke Harry's musings, forcing her to blink and nearly stumble over her own skirt in her panic. Thus, when Draco began to lead her carefully towards the other champions, Harry couldn't help but tighten her fingers around his hand and try to yank the Slytherin back towards the back of the room.

"Potter." Draco sounded torn between amusement and exasperation as he leaned down to whisper into her ear. "We're supposed to dance now." He was just on the verge of taking her hand and positioning it onto his shoulder when Harry just shook her head frantically at him and pulled away.

"I don't think so, Malfoy…I can't dance to save my life. Let's go over there to the far side of the room where no one can see us–_YOW! _Heeey!" Scowling, Harriet winced in annoyance when Draco had tightened his grip on her arm and scoffed, dragging her right towards the very center of the dance floor.

From the corner of her eye, Harry thought she caught a glimpse of Cedric frowning at her from where he was standing with Cho not too far away but before she could even return his gaze, however, Draco had called her attention again by gripping tighter onto her arm and pulling her closer against him.

"Put your hands on my shoulders." He drawled at her with a lazy grin.

"What?" Harry reluctantly tore her gaze away from Cedric's glare and blinked stupidly at him.

"_Now, _Potter!"

She grabbed onto his shoulders immediately – barely making it in time just as the music around the Hall began to play and the other Champions began dancing with their partners around the room. Swallowing the lump in her throat, Harry spent the next few minutes after that staring intently at her feet on the floor – counting nervously through gritted teeth as she tried to recall the steps in her head.

_One-two-three…One-two-three…Step-two-three–_

"Shit!" Harry winced in dismay as she missed a step and inadvertently stepped on Draco's left foot, instantly causing the Slytherin to pause in the middle of dancing and glare at her in mild annoyance.

"You did that on purpose." He drawled mockingly.

"I did _not! _I already told you I can't dance, Malfoy!"

They glared at each other, both teens unaware of the way the rest of the students around the hall were staring at them, no doubt wondering why they had stopped in the middle of the dance floor. To Harry's further frustration, she thought she even caught a glimpse of Fred and George Weasley standing near the back of the Great Hall – surrounded by a horde of students who were all waiting to place their bets on whether or not Harry and Draco were likely to kill each other by the end of the night.

_Bastards, the lot of them! _Harry fumed to herself, her eyes narrowing at the two redheads.

When she lifted her gaze and looked around again, she noticed that Snape and Karkaroff were standing beside each other near the far corner of the room, both men seemingly engrossed in a conversation that had both of them speaking in hushed, low voices. Meanwhile, a few feet away from them, Peter Pettigrew was locked in what appeared to be a grim conversation with Barty Crouch.

"I still say you should be careful around Pettigrew, you know."

Blinking in surprise at Draco's comment, Harry glanced up at him and frowned when she saw that Draco had followed her gaze and was frowning suspiciously at Peter Pettigrew across the room.

"My father trusts him, Malfoy. They're friends." She countered slowly, looking a bit uncertain.

Draco sneered at her, shaking his head at her words. "And Julius Caesar trusted his best friend Brutus, look where that got him. Look there, you see that?" He waited until Harry had looked up again and watched as Peter conversed with the small cluster of Ministry officials who had gone up to him.

"The man on the right is Amycus Carrow, and the woman on the left is his sister, Alecto Carrow." Draco sneered as he muttered their names, his gaze focused on the two dark-robed siblings as they continued to speak with Peter Pettigrew. "Those two were one of the more fanatical Death Eaters back in their day… I can't believe Pettigrew hired them to work for the Ministry of Magic." He scoffed at the expression of shock that registered on Harry's face and continued. "The only reason they managed to avoid being imprisoned in Azkaban was because they practically donated their entire fortune to the Ministry's Death Eater Inquisition. I don't know how they're getting by now." He drawled with a smirk.

For her part, Harry looked as though she was having a lot of trouble taking this all in – considering the fact that the Carrows had always been invited to every single one of her birthday parties by her father, and that they were among those who practically worshipped the ground James walked on.

"Are you sure you have your facts right, Malfoy–"

"I _always _have the right facts, Potter. You see that table with Percy Weasley?" Draco nodded her towards the direction of the Top Table, allowing Harry to see Percy sitting in the seat near the end. When she nodded reluctantly at his words, Draco gave her a grim smile and gestured to the tall, sneering Ministry official seated beside him. "That man seated beside him is Augustus Rookwood… Works for the Unspeakable Department in the Ministry of Magic." He paused and turned to smirk at her.

"Let me guess." Harry interrupted him, her voice dripping with sarcasm. "He was a Death Eater too, huh?" Rolling her eyes in frustration, Harry let out a sigh and ended up missing another dance step.

"Somehow, why is it that I just can't find it in my heart to accept everything you say–"

Draco held both of his hands up at her in mock-surrender before he narrowed his eyes and sneered. "Hey, you don't _have _to believe me if you don't want to, Potter…The choice to be a gullible idiot like your father is yours." He mocked loudly, earning himself a particularly fierce nudge from her.

When she and Draco had paused near the center of the ballroom, Harriet suddenly turned to glance to her right, hearing Cho laughing at one of Cedric's jokes. At this, the angry scowl on her face shifted from Draco instantly and she couldn't help but blink and watch the laughing pair in irritation.

_I'm not jealous. I'm not jealous. I'm not jealous–_

"On a lighter note…If I may say so, Potter–"

_I'm not jealous. I'm not jealous. I'm not jealous._

Draco chuckled at the expression on her features and shrugged, gesturing nonchalantly to where Cedric and Cho were dancing near them. "–your so-called 'boyfriend' looks pretty cozy over there with that Ravenclaw chit." He pointed out smugly, taking pleasure in the anxious look on Harry's face.

Fighting the urge to sneer back at him, Harry swallowed the dry lump that had formed in her throat at Draco's words and shook her head. She tore her eyes quickly away from Cedric and Cho.

"They're just really close friends…Cedric told me so himself, I trust him." Harry explained quietly – more to herself than to him, to be completely honest – but Draco's smirk just widened at her words.

"If you say so, _Harry._" He chimed back, deliberately calling out her first name in such a mockingly teasing voice that Harry's head snapped back and she glared daggers at the leering blonde in annoyance. "Oh, this is new? Are you implying that Cedric is a cheat like _you_, is that it? You're really–"

Draco promptly raised both his palms up into the air in mock surrender again and ended up laughing at her as he shook his head. "Relax…I wasn't _implying _anything." He chuckled and shook his head at her in amusement before he continued. "Besides, contrary to popular belief, I'm _not _a cheat–"

"You are _so _a cheat! I can't even keep track of how many poor girls you've gone through–"

"I have _never _dated two girls at the same time, Potter – which I believe, is the correct definition of a cheat. I _do _have a tendency of getting sick of a girl too fast, but I _never _cheated." Draco corrected her smugly, reveling in the fact that Harry couldn't seem to come up with a response to his argument.

Fortunately, she was saved from the need to think of any further answer to him when, incidentally, she missed a step again and this time, it was the end of her sharp stiletto heel that had stabbed at Draco's left foot. He pulled back from her immediately, cursing in pain and accidentally crashing right into Fleur Delacour and Roger Davies – the couple who had been dancing right behind them. Affronted, they glared at him in annoyance but Draco just sneered back, causing both Fleur and Roger to grumble under their breaths and begin moving towards the other end of the large dance floor.

As soon as they were gone, Draco turned back around and smirked at Harry's wincing expression.

"Bloody _hell, _Potter! Just how much of an incompetent dancer are you?!" He complained loudly.

"I'm s_orry!_" The high-pitched, embarrassed apology came tumbling out of her mouth even before she could stop herself, and she realized that her face was red with humiliation. Furiously shaking her head at herself, she dropped her arms from his shoulders and suddenly stepped away from him.

"I already told you, Draco." She ignored the way the irritation in his eyes had softened at the dejected tone of her voice. "I _can't _dance…In fact; I can't dance if my life depended on it. I'm sorry but I'm out of here." Harry avoided his gaze as she turned away, noting that the crowd of media reporters around them had paused whatever it was they were doing and were watching her once again. In particular, Rita Skeeter was standing in the middle of the large crowd of reporters, and the look on her face was _vicious _when she noticed that Harry had stopped dancing and was beginning to walk away.

Trying her best to ignore the humiliated tears that were already beginning to pool in her eyes, Harry quickly tore her gaze away from Draco. Sighing, she began to gather her skirts, fully intending to bolt for the exit when, to her surprise, Draco suddenly reached out and grasped her gently by the arm.

"Don't…" He paused and turned her around slowly to face him, waiting until Harry had reluctantly lifted her green eyes back up to meet his before he spoke. "Stop running from them, Potter." He told her quietly, his gray eyes probing deep into hers and causing her to glare at him in frustration.

"Well just _look _at them!" Harry gestured impatiently to the media reporters who were anxiously watching their conversation. "They're watching me like a hawk watches its prey! It's like they already _know _that I'm an accident waiting to happen! What am I supposed to do?!" She hissed softly, but just as she was about to pull away from him again, Draco tightened his arms around her and held her in place.

"Malfoy! Just what do you think you're doing–"

"Step on my feet, Potter." Draco suddenly interrupted her, causing Harry to pause and look up at him with a completely bewildered expression on her face. When he just stared back at her in response, Harry blinked a few times and shook her head, giving a look that suggested he was insane.

"What are you talking about, Malf–"

"Step on my feet, Potter. Quickly, before they stare at us again!" Draco whispered at her more insistently, but while Harry _did _give him a dubious look at this, her curiosity got the better of her anyway.

Grudgingly, she obliged – but only when she slowly positioned her feet on top of his did she realize that Draco's eyes were alight with mischief. With a particularly knowing smile twitching at the corner of his lips, he smirked as he took her hand and held her in place into a dancing position again.

Just before Draco was about to glide them back towards the other champions, he leaned towards her – close enough so that his lips touched her ears – and whispered to her in low, silky drawl.

"You _owe _me for this, Potter." He teased, smirking wider when Harry inadvertently blushed at the contact. She stared up at him again, watching with wide eyes as Draco looked up to flash another one of his perfect smiles at the crowd of reporters and journalists who were focused intently on them.

Then, after giving Harry one last mischievous wink, Draco chuckled and began to move them effortlessly in a slow, perfectly graceful waltz around the large ballroom. Interestingly enough, Draco was able to move them around effortlessly around the dance floor - his movements so decisively fluid and expertly coordinated that _none _of the reporters noticed that Harry was merely standing on his feet.

Soon enough, as the Slytherin kept the crowd occupied with the way he was smiling and whispering a few more teasing comments into Harry's ear every now and then, most of the reporters' attention were taken off Harry's dancing immediately – and the Gryffindor was able to relax in his arms.

After a few minutes, when Rita Skeeter eventually got bored of watching her and finally moved on to focus on Krum, Harry hesitantly looked up at Draco again, her features softening into a shy smile.

"Thank you, Draco."

Draco slowly drifted his gaze back to her face, noting that the black-haired Gryffindor was staring up at him with a genuine smile lighting up her beautiful features. He didn't answer, and the expression on his face was unreadable to her as they danced but still, he continued to stare at her, his eyes moving slowly from her scar, her green eyes, until his gaze finally rested meaningfully on her lips.

His eyes gleaming, Draco paused them in the far corner of the dance floor and spun her around in a twirl, smirking at her as he caught her in arms again and began to lean his face down towards hers.

"Just how…_thankful…_are you willing to prove you are, Potter?"

The smile on Harry's face faltered instantly – and her first reaction was to panic at the thought of Draco trying to kiss her. Just as Harry was about to pull her face away from him, however, Draco did something completely _unexpected – _he had leaned over, close enough so that his lips were lingering over hers, and he froze. Then, to her _utter _surprise, Draco shook his head at himself – as though he genuinely couldn't contain his laughter – and he ended up _nuzzling _her nose teasingly with _his _instead.

"Potter…" Draco's lips twitched, and the Slytherin was laughing now as he glanced down and smirked teasingly at the completely embarrassed expression on Harry's face. "You…are…_adorably…_and _insufferably, _if I may mention…too naïve for your own good." He chucked her chin up, smiling at her.

Harry gaped at him, and in that moment, she would have given up her _Firebolt _if it meant the ground could open up and swallow her alive but unfortunately, she wasn't even _close _to being _that _lucky.

"Oh no, you misunderstood me. I think it's quite—" Draco paused, but before Harry could realize what he meant, he leaned towards her again – and this time, he caught the Gryffindor completely off guard when he managed to press a kiss on her cheek. Harry's face reddened instantly, but before she could manage to push him away, Draco grinned at her and murmured softly into her ear.

"…_cute."_

Harry blushed even darker and stared at him again – utterly _confused _with the way she was reacting to him and yet, unable to do anything else anyway. Fortunately, Ludo Bagman had taken that opportunity to call the attention of the Champions again, and Harry was spared from any further embarrassing reactions as she sighed in relief and allowed Draco to lead her back towards their table.

* * *

Later that night, about an hour after having dinner with the other champions, Harry tried not to wince as she looked up at Cedric's angry expression. The two of them had been dancing in the middle of the dance floor for quite a few minutes now, and still the Hufflepuff hadn't spoken a word– and it was only when Harry managed to give him a small, feeble smile at him that Cedric finally sighed in frustration.

"You didn't tell me that you were going to the Yule Ball with your secret _boyfriend, _Harry." He remarked quietly at her, a hint of bitterness in his voice that caused her to let out a sigh of exasperation.

"Cedric, I can _not _believe I am about to have this discussion with you." She began slowly, but when her words only caused Cedric's scowl to deepen, however, she opted to change her approach. "Ced, you should _know _by now that everything they publish in the Daily Prophet about me is rubbish… That _includes _the recent bit about me having a so called 'secret affair' with Malfoy. Honestly, Cedric–"

"Oh, and the fact that you _agreed _to go to the Yule Ball with him shouldn't mean anything?" He countered her easily, a slight edge to his voice that caused Harriet to stiffen and glare indignantly at him.

"He _blackmailed _me into going with him! I would never have agreed otherwise–" The rest of her words ended up in a squeak when she accidentally missed a dance step and nearly tripped over her own heels, inadvertently causing Cedric to miss a few dance steps as well and struggle to fix their position.

"–_sorry." _Harry muttered under her breath just as she managed to straighten herself up and allowed Cedric to lead her into a waltz again. "Anyway, as I was saying, he _blackmailed _me into going with him to the Ball. He said that he'd tell everyone that I cheated my way through the first task–"

"_Did _you?!" Cedric looked shocked as he glanced down at her, his eyes widening slightly when he saw the sheepish expression on her face. When Harry didn't respond, however, he seemed to have gotten his answer anyway and the shock on his face suddenly melded itself into a reproachful glare.

"Harry, no matter what the odds are and no matter what we're up against, I don't want you cheating your way through the tournament like that. It isn't right, and you're much better than that–"

"You're missing the point, Cedric." Harry interrupted him in mild annoyance, inwardly noting to herself that she probably shouldn't be telling him about the fact that the _other _reason she had agreed to go to the Yule Ball with Draco was because he was going to tell her how she could solve the egg clue. "The point is that you have to _stop _believing what other people say in the Prophet. Let them talk all they want about who we went with tonight, it doesn't matter. I mean, look at you, you meant with Cho–"

"That's not the same, Harry. Cho is one of my closest friends _and _she's not related to a Death Eater." He looked up and did a quick survey around the room before he continued. "How do you think Uncle James is going to react when he arrives and sees that you went with Malfoy?" Cedric pointed out.

At his words, Harry stiffened and she couldn't help the nervous guilt that came flooding into her chest as she followed Cedric's example and glanced around the room as well. Near the front of the Great Hall, she stared anxiously at what Ludo Bagman called the "Top Table" – where the judges and the VIP guests had all been seated for that evening. The table specifically allotted for the TriWizard Champions and their dates was positioned right beside the Top Table, and right beside _that, _was another table reserved for the other important Ministry officials that had been invited for the Yule Ball.

It was along the Top table that Harry caught sight of Percy Weasley, Barty Crouch, and Peter Pettigrew, the latter of which was currently glaring at her with an ugly scowl on his face. The large chair to his right, Harriet knew, was reserved for James, but the Minister of Magic was nowhere to be seen.

"Well…Dad's not here yet, anyway." Harry sighed and looked back up to meet Cedric's angry scowl. "So I'll cross that bridge when I get there, I guess." She paused when Cedric let out a derisive scoff and gestured back over to where Draco was already laughing and conversing with his housemates.

"I saw the way you were flirting with him awhile ago you know." Cedric accused, and the sullen tone of his voice drew Harry's attention again as she looked back up at him and blinked at him in shock.

"Excuse me?" She blurted out, blinking and not daring to believe what he had just said.

"Malfoy." Cedric clarified quietly, his scowl deepening further as he lifted his glare from her and directed it to Draco again, watching angrily as the blonde continued to brag loudly to his Slytherin friends. "I saw the way you were smiling at him…And the way he was smiling at _you_. I didn't like it."

"Cedric, you're just being _paranoid_—" She tried to argue but Cedric countered her easily.

"I'm a _guy_." He told her bluntly, his eyes narrowed as he met her disbelieving expression again. "I happen to know _exactly _how another guy's mind works and believe me, I'd recognize that look on Malfoy's face anywhere. Remember, he's a _Slytherin, _Harry. They're not exactly the sort to respect the unspoken code of honor that another guy's _girlfriend _is off-limits." Cedric muttered under his breath.

Harry opened her mouth to cut him off, her expression incredulous as to how Cedric could even be jealous of something like that but even before she could speak, Cedric shook his head and continued. "It's in the way he looks at you, Harry. You may not have seen it the way I did, but I swear to Merlin, there was _something _there. How could you have even considered going to the Yule Ball with him–"

"Cedric–" Harry ground out through gritted teeth, cursing under her breath when she missed another dance step again. "I can assure you there is _nothing _going on between me and Malfoy. I would never do that to you, you should know that. I just _went _with him to return a favor, it meant _nothing–"_

"You shouldn't even have to return that 'favor' if it involved cheating during the tournament–"

"Well, what do you expect? I wasn't actually prepared to enter this tournament like you! All I want to do is make sure I stay alive – _bugger!" _Harry cursed even louder this time when she missed another dance step, accidentally stepping onto Cedric's left foot and nearly causing him to stumble.

He frowned at this and struggled to reposition them again, fully aware that most of the reporters gathered around the room were beginning to focus their cameras on Harry again. "Harry, you have to be a little more careful with your dancing now. Rita Skeeter is looking at us again–" He told her.

"I'm _trying!" _Harry hissed back at him, her chest pounding with panic and her cheeks rapidly flushing with humiliation. "But you _know _that I dance even worse when I get nervous! And you're not exactly helping me out here, you know!" She snapped angrily at him before she could control herself.

Cedric looked affronted as he stared back quietly at her, watching as Harry kept her gaze focused on her feet as she tried to follow his footsteps. "You don't have to shout at me, Harry. I'm not trying to antagonize you here." He reminded her quietly, her to sigh as she glanced back up at him again.

"I know…I'm _sorry, _Cedric…I just…I really _am _feeling jittery here. Maybe if I just–" An idea lit up in her eyes and she glanced anxiously back up at him, her green eyes wide and pleading. "Maybe if you let me stand on your feet for awhile?" She suggested but when Cedric looked at her as though she was crazy, Harry laughed nervously and tried to explain herself. "I can stand on your feet while you dance…That way, everyone else won't be laughing at us whenever I miss a step or trip over myself."

Cedric arched an eyebrow and shook his head in dismay. "I don't think that's a good idea–"

"I beg your pardon, Mister Diggory…But may I have this dance with Miss Potter?"

At the new voice that had spoken, Harry and Cedric pulled apart from each other, blinking up at the tall, grimly smiling figure of none other than Barty Crouch Sr., the Head of the Ministry's Department of International Magical Cooperation. When he noticed the way Harry had stiffened at his presence, however, and the way Cedric was reluctant to let Harry go, the smile on his face hardened somewhat.

His eyes narrowed as he gestured to the corner of the room where a few more Ministry officials were clustered in a small circle. "Oh, and I believe your father wishes to have a word with you, Cedric. I think you'll find Amos over there in the other side of the room." Crouch told him with a blank smile.

Cedric started at this, flicking his gaze from Crouch to stare uncertainly at the tall figure of his father. "Oh…Alright, I suppose I'd better go see what he wants then." He turned to Harry's stiff figure again, giving her a questioning look. "Will you be alright? I'll be back as soon as I can." He told her.

Harry opened her mouth to answer him, but before she could even manage to say anything, Crouch directed Cedric's attention again by giving him a polite nod. "I'll entertain young Harry until you get back. You needn't worry." He gave him another calm smile again that made Cedric shift uneasily.

"Alright then, Mister Crouch…I'll be right back, Harry." He paused to give the Gryffindor a quick kiss on her cheek before he rushed off, leaving Harry staring awkwardly up at Crouch in quiet suspicion. Without saying anything, however, the Official smiled politely at her again and offered her his hand.

"May I have this dance, Miss Potter?" He asked again, prompting Harry to wince as she grudgingly placed her hand into his and nodded, allowing him to lead her around in a slow, careful waltz.

Neither of them said anything for a few moments, and mostly Harry spent the entire time listening to the rapid pounding of her heart as she tried to scan the large ballroom in the hope of being able to think of an excuse to step away from Crouch. When she didn't find anything, Crouch broke their awkward silence when he suddenly spoke up again, causing Harry to stiffen at his strange voice.

"So…Miss Potter…How are you enjoying the Yule Ball so far? Having fun?" He asked her, peering down into her face and watching blankly as a myriad of different reactions crossed her features. Staring up at him, Harry reluctantly nodded and managed to answer him with a careless shrug and forced laugh.

"I–it's okay, Mister Crouch…It's been fun. Though, I _must _say that all this dancing is giving me hives." She tried to kid, but her laughter ended up choked in her throat when Crouch just stared at her.

"How do you fancy your chances in the tournament, Miss Potter? Feeling confident yet?" He asked again but this time, Harry couldn't help but notice the strange way that his jaw seemed to be struggling with itself – as though Crouch was having trouble forcing the words out of his own mouth.

"I'm not sure how confident I should be yet, Mister Crouch…There's still the second and third task for me to worry about." She answered cautiously, her eyes beginning to narrow suspiciously at him.

Crouch stared at her, his features creasing – and _un-creasing _– into a strange, gaping glare.

"I–I'm…sorry about your mother, Potter."

The minute he had said this, Harry's eyes widened in outrage. When she glared angrily at him for bringing up such a sensitive issue, however, Crouch spoke up again and seemed to be struggling as the words came out of his mouth. "It's sad, is it not…? The tragedy of losing one's family…?" He managed another blank smile at her, the deadness of his eyes sending a chill up and down her spine.

"Never whole again, are we? Still…Life goes on…And here we stand…" Crouch's eyes bugged immediately after he had said this and, to Harry's utter shock, the Ministry official suddenly seemed to snap. Gaping, he stopped right in the middle of their dancing and gripped tightly onto Harry's left arm.

"You're here with Lucius Malfoy's son, are you not?" He blurted out so angrily at her that Harry couldn't help but stiffen in shock. She paled and blinked up nervously at him, trying to push him away.

"Not to be rude, but I don't see why that should be any of your business, Mister Crouch–"

"He's a traitor, Potter!" Crouch hissed at her, his dark eyes gleaming viciously. "He _and _his father are nothing but lying, deceiving, pathetic traitors! Their disloyalty knows no bounds; the Malfoys were among the very _first _who turned on the Dark Lord after his fall! They're likely to do it again!" He raged.

Gaping at him, Harry's eyes flashed and she darted her gaze desperately from left to right as she tried to search for a way to get away from him. "Mister Crouch, I don't understand. If that's true and the Malfoys _did _betray the Dark Lord, then shouldn't that be a good thing? That means they defected–"

"Lucius was nothing more than a lying dishonest turncoat! He never understood the meaning of true loyalty at all–" Crouch would have said more, but it was in that moment that a familiar face entered the Hall– allowing Harry the distraction she was looking for as she twisted herself free from his grasp.

"Excuse me, Mister Crouch. But one of my guardians, Remus, just arrived. I'd like to go over and talk to him." She ignored the crazed look in his eyes as she pulled away from him and turned around, beginning to walk towards the other end of the Great Hall. "Good evening to you." She stammered, not giving him another chance to respond before she picked up her skirts and bolted the hell away from him.

* * *

Still reeling from her rather freaky encounter with Barty Crouch earlier that night, Harriet was more than relieved when, as she had already expected, Remus had done away with any of the lectures her father or Sirius would have given her and had just greeted her with his warm, friendly smile.

As soon as he had seen her running towards him from the other end of the Hall, the weary look on Remus face had brightened instantly and after he and Harry had exchanged a long, affectionate hug, she immediately went on to rant to him about everything that had happened in school for the past few weeks. Remus had just listened to her and nodded in acknowledgment, smiling every now and then when Harry mentioned a few anecdotes about Ron and Hermione's secret 'attraction' for one another.

Amusingly enough, only when Harry had managed to tire herself out with all of her stories for him did Remus finally chuckle and ask her about the Yule Ball, causing Harry to scowl back at him. When she reluctantly mentioned that she had gone to the Yule Ball with none other than Draco Malfoy, the smile on Remus' face had tightened somewhat and he couldn't help frowning. To her surprise, however, Remus didn't say anything about it, and Harry was visibly relieved as she promptly changed the subject.

Though when she had asked Remus where her dad was, that was when his frown had deepened and he looked a little sheepish. Sighing, he leaned down and dropped a kiss on the top of her head. "James will be here, Harry. He's just running a bit late, he had a meeting in Italy today." He told her.

Nodding, Harry had accepted his answer with a smile, knowing that Remus wouldn't have lied to her about something as important as that. Unfortunately, it was in that instant that another pack of older guests from the Ministry had approached Remus to introduce themselves, so that when Remus glanced questioningly at her again, Harry just smiled reassuringly at him and nodded, waving him away.

As soon as he was gone, Harry considered looking for her friends for the next few minutes – but when she saw that Neville and Ron were just sulking in the corner of the room and that Hermione looked positively happy as she danced with Krum – Harry sheepishly decided against it. Picking up her skirts, she stole a glance at Draco across the Great Hall again, and when she saw that the Slytherin was busy laughing with his friends, she shrugged and finally decided to walk over to the balcony outside.

_Much better. _She took in a deep inhale of fresh air when she got there, closing her eyes and allowing the cool breeze to caress her face. Unfortunately, her relaxation proved to be short-lived because the second she opened her eyes, she noticed the group of Slytherin boys clustered near the balcony railings. She recognized one of them instantly as Marcus Flint, the tallest one sneering at her from the middle of the group. Frowning, Harry was just on the verge of walking back inside the Great Hall again when, to her dismay, Flint had called out to her, drawing her attention to his leering smile.

"Potter! A pleasant evening to you! Join us!" Flint hopped off from where he was seated on the balcony railing and began walking towards her, a wide, mocking smile on his pale face. When he noticed that Harry was all alone and that she was glaring stubbornly back at him, his sneer began to widen.

"What's a beautiful girl like you doing all alone like this…? Where's Malfoy?" He drawled loudly.

"Yeah, didn't he ask you to the Ball tonight? Where _is _that little git, couldn't he keep you interested long enough?" One of other seventh-years, Harry didn't know his name, mocked as he narrowed his eyes at Harry, his gaze raking up and down her form and making Harry shift uncomfortably.

"Malfoy's somewhere inside, Flint. I agreed to be his date, not his keeper. Obviously, since you're so pathetic that you couldn't get a girl to go with you tonight, you can go find him yourself." Harry mocked, causing Flint to snarl at her while the other Slytherins behind him burst out laughing.

Fuming silently to himself, Flint sneered at her, his eyes still blazing at her last comment.

"Where's _Daddy _these days, Potter? Couldn't he be bothered long enough to show up tonight for his precious little daughter? Or has he decided that he doesn't care about you after all?" He taunted scathingly, inevitably causing Harry's hands to clench up into tight fists as she tried to control her anger.

"Flint." She hissed back at him, her eyes flashing dangerously as she found herself gripping the wand that was nestled carefully in her small purse. "If you particularly _care _about the proliferation of your disgusting genes and you don't want to spend the rest of your life with an incapacitated crotch–"

A couple of the Slytherin boys behind Flint sniggered at this, but they stopped when Flint snapped his head to glare furiously at them. "–then I suggest you _stop _taunting me about my father and mind your own bloody business." She paused after she had said this and smiled back calmly at him, watching in amusement as Flint grumbled and hesitantly reached out to offer her the cup in his hand.

"Touché, Potter…Merlin, you don't have to be so aggressive all the time. We were just teasing, I don't want to earn a black eye for it." He complained, earning a few more loud sniggers from his friends.

"In fact, here–" Flint paused and offered her the drink in his hand, his lips twitching when Harry's eyebrows furrowed at the gesture. "–as a token of my apology, and of course, _just _to show that there are no hard feelings, have a drink, Potter. Go on, take it." He waited until Harry had reluctantly taken the drink from his hand and sniffed it few times, causing Flint to smirk in amusement at her again.

"What's this? No trust amongst us fellow Hogwartians, Potter?" Another Slytherin beside Flint, a light-haired boy named Terence Higgs, teased when Harry continued to inspect the drink in her hand. Looking up at him, she ignored the leers on their faces and glared at them with narrowed green eyes.

"Is there any alcohol in this?" She asked them, her eyes flashing in suspicion when Flint and Higgs seemed to meet each other's gaze for a split second before they turned and smiled innocently at her. Just when Flint had opened his mouth to answer her, however, another voice had spoken behind Harry – and before she knew it, a hand had come out of nowhere and snatched the drink from her hand.

Gasping, Harry whirled around in shock at the action – just in time to catch the look of barely restrained fury on Draco's face as he was held the drink up to his face and sniffed suspiciously at it.

"_Alcohol…_and–" Draco was practically seething as he flicked flashing gray eyes back up and glared menacingly at his housemates. "–a whole _lot _of other substances intended to magnify the potency of the alcohol." His eyes narrowed as he met the Slytherins' sheepish shrugs and smiles. "One of this, and a pathetic little girl like _you, _Potter, would be drunk as a codger." Draco tightened his grip around the cup until it crumpled in his fingers. When he poured what was left of the drink on the floor, Flint, Higgs and the rest of the Slytherin boys surrounding them all groaned loudly at him in annoyance.

"Bloody hell…Malfoy, you're no fun!" A tall boy with dark hair and glasses protested loudly.

"Awww…Come on, Draco! We were just helping Potter loosen up a bit–" Higgs paused in the middle of his statement and nudged the other Slytherin beside him, giving him a perverted grin. "–if you know what I mean, of course." The two ended up laughing at their own joke, inadvertently causing Draco's left eye to twitch as he glared at them again, his hand hovering over the wand in his robe pocket.

Oblivious of the way Harry was giving him a confused stare from behind, he ignored the rest of his housemates' protests and shook his head, gesturing them back inside with a cool, warning glare.

"Flint, I suggest you take the rest of your 'special brew' and go back inside." Draco noticed that Flint was about to protest but he continued, his features forming into a threatening sneer. "One word, Flint…_One _word is all it takes…And I will _personally _see to it that all of your filthy shit around here is exposed for the entire world to see." Draco paused when he noticed the way Flint had paled at his words, and his sneer turned particularly vicious. "Although, I _do _wonder…Does a student have a certain _limit _on the number of grounds he could incur for expulsion?" He smiled slowly at Flint's panicked face.

"You're such an asshole, Malfoy." Higgs mused, glaring at Draco in frustration.

Grunting and muttering a few combinations of curse words under his breath, Flint could do nothing but glare at Draco for the next few moments. When he, Higgs, and the rest of the Slytherins had finally grumbled and trudged back towards the Great Hall, Draco turned to look at Harry again, and if anything, the reproachful anger in his glare reminded her way too much of her father for her liking.

"Didn't your father ever teach you not to take random drinks from older boys you don't know, Potter?" Draco snapped, his eyes narrowing even further when he saw the embarrassed flush beginning to rise in her cheeks. Glaring back at him, Harry's jaw dropped open in indignation at his accusation.

"Malfoy, in case you were too _thick-headed _to notice back there, I was doing just _fine _on my own. I'm not as stupid as you might think I am, I wasn't about to take some random drink like that–"

"Potter." Draco interrupted her as he dropped the crumpled-up drink in his hand onto the floor.

Sighing in exasperation, he reached over and pulled Harry firmly by her arm so that she was standing close to him, her back facing the balcony railings. Highly annoyed by his reproving tone but curious all the same, Harry held back the snide response that was forming on her lips and allowed him to continue.

"Let me tell you a little something about us Slytherins." He paused, gesturing towards the party again and allowing Harry to see that Flint and Higgs were now offering their drinks to a few Beauxbatons girls standing near the corner of the Hall. "_Everything _in our actions…Everything we do…Everything we _say…_I guarantee that there is _always _an underlying intention in there somewhere…_Always._ And I can tell you this–" Draco managed a wry laugh and shook his head. "–most of the time, the intention that motivates us isn't something you were expecting at all." He ended with a smug smirk.

Harry processed his words carefully, taking the time to consider their meaning. Eventually, when the full implication of what he told her finally sunk in, her first instinct was to blink in confusion and stare quietly at him – and surprisingly enough, it looked as Draco had realized the same thing she did.

"So…If that's the case, Draco–" Harry lifted her gaze, meeting the Slytherin's wide, shocked eyes.

"–what exactly is _your _underlying intention in helping me all the time?" She asked softly.

For a few seconds, Draco looked stumped and he blinked stupidly at her – as though he genuinely hadn't anticipated having to answer to his own statement. Unfortunately, before he could think of an answer, a harsh banging sound, followed by shouts of anger, drew their attention. Startled, both teenagers turned to gape at the two robed figures glaring at them in front of the balcony doorway.

"_There! _You see, James?! That little runt is trying to defile your little girl already, why else would he drag her out here all alone?! I _warned _you this would happen!" Peter Pettigrew's accusations were almost indecipherable from his angry screeching but somehow, James caught his words perfectly. Snarling, the Minister of Magic immediately stormed onto the balcony and headed straight for Draco.

"Dad, _wait! _I can explain what this looks like–" Cringing to herself in panic, Harry tried to step in front of Draco before James could reach him. "–we were talking just now, nothing was going on, Dad–"

"_YOU–" _James rounded on her instantly, and without giving the younger Gryffindor a chance to continue, he grabbed her arm and pulled her aside, his eyes flashing with anger. "–are in _enough _trouble as it is, Harry! Now step aside before I decide to make your punishment worse than it already is!"

He failed to notice the way Harry flinched at his harsh voice and continued, averting his glare from his daughter so he could point his wand at Draco.

"And you! I can't believe your audacity!"

"I didn't do anything to your daughter, Minister Potter." Draco held his hands up, his eyes wide in cautious realization.

"Dad, leave him alone! Nothing was going on! You're overreacting–" Harry stopped, the rest of her words ending up as a choked gasp when Peter had bent down and picked up the discarded cup from the floor and held it up to his nose – the very same cup that Flint and Higgs had given her awhile ago.

Soon enough, the instant Peter recognized the smell of alcohol and the other dubious ingredients that had been in the drink, his eyes gleamed in triumph and he began screeching angrily at Draco again. "You filthy Death Eater, how _dare _you try and serve liquor to the Minister's daughter–"

"That drink didn't come from me!" Draco protested angrily, but he froze upon seeing the horde of Aurors that were beginning to gather behind Peter.

When one of them, a large burly Auror with yellowing teeth and a crooked smile, had grabbed at him and suddenly held a wand to his throat, Draco stiffened and he began struggling wildly against him and shouting in outrage. "How dare you touch me, you vile ugly ape?! My father will hear about this! Take your filthy mitts off me right now! You have no right to lay your disgusting paws on me!" He seethed.

"Draco, shush!" Harry tried to push the Aurors away from Draco but the grip James had on her arm held her in place and she began to struggle furiously against him. "Dad, let him go! He didn't do anything to me I swear! _STOP IT__!_"

Peter sneered and handed the empty cup in his hand over to James, grimly shaking his head. When the Minister had lifted the empty cup to his face and recognized the unmistakable scent of the alcohol, James' eyes had hardened instantly – and Harry _knew _by his expression they were in big trouble.

"Mister Malfoy…" James spoke in a soft hiss as he slowly shifted his angry glare from the empty cup in his hand to the pale, nervous blonde in front of him. "I think it's best if you accompany me and my team of Aurors here back to the Ministry of Magic." He drawled coldly, but when Draco paled even further at this and began to struggle even more against the Auror restraining him, James turned to Peter.

"Collect his wand. Stun the boy and have him ready to be questioned tonight." When Peter had nodded once at his command, James turned his narrowed eyes to the Auror restraining Draco. "Barnes, send an owl out to Sirius; I want him back in the Ministry of Magic within the hour. And call Dolores Umbridge, tell her to have a batch of Veritaserum Potion ready!" He turned his glare back to Draco, his eyes narrowing when he saw the way the blonde Slytherin was glaring defiantly at him with a sneer identical to the one James had on his own face.

"You're making a stupid mistake_, _Minister Potter." Draco hissed angrily at him.

"First you try to defile my daughter, and now you dare to insult _me_, Mister Malfoy_?!_" James snarled back at him in disbelief, his eyes gleaming with fury as he met the equally irate expression on Draco's features.

"I wasn't trying to 'defile' your precious daughter—" Draco had looked as though he wanted to say something else but in that instant, Pettigrew had raised his wand and pointed it at him with a sneer.

"_DAD, HE WASN'T DOING ANYTHING! YOU HAVE THIS __ALL WRONG!" _Harry tried to scream at them, but it was too late.

"_STUPEFY!_"

Draco was out like a light instantly, and Harry found that she could do nothing but gape at them and watch helplessly as Peter and the Aurors began to drag Draco back inside the Great Hall.

_Oh no. _Harry's eyes widened in horror, and in her mind, she could already make out all the possible humiliating scenarios the Daily Prophet could insinuate from the scene everyone was about to witness tonight.

Sure enough, by that time, everyone in the Hall was staring at them as they re-entered the party area. Most of the reporters were already crowded around the balcony doors, waiting for Harry like a pack of rabid wolves – and right in the middle of the large group– was none other than Rita Skeeter.

* * *

The next few weeks after the Yule Ball were _torture _for Harry.

All the drama and the media attention on her hadn't died down until the very week of the Second Task itself, and admittedly, the worst of it all was that following the horrible fiasco that had happened on the balcony, James was furious at Harry yet again_. This _time, even having a teacher follow her around like a bodyguard would not permit her to be able to walk around outside the school castle.

Surprisingly enough, with the exception of the usual anti-Harry piece written by Rita Skeeter, the barrage of articles that had been published in the Daily Prophet regarding the incident had been accurate. Under the effects of the Veritaserum Potion, Draco had confessed every detail of what had happened to a horde of Ministry officials that night, and when the trial courts had released the ruling that declared the Slytherin as innocent, James had been forced to drop all of his charges against him.

Meanwhile, Flint, Higgs, and the rest of the Slytherins who were witness to Flint offering Harry alcohol, had all been given a disciplinary sanction for attempting to offer alcohol to a minor student.

In the week that followed after James had hauled Draco to the Ministry, Lucius Malfoy had launched a separate lawsuit against the Minister of Magic, citing libel and prosecution of an underage wizard as his case, heightened by the fact that the falsity of the Minister's accusations had inflicted unjust humiliation on his son and their family. Unfortunately, although the lawsuits _were _brought to the Ministry courts for jurisdiction, they were _dropped _not long after the charges against Draco were cleared.

As expected, the Malfoy Patriarch was nothing short of_ furious_.

He and Snape had even taken the complaints up to the Wizengamot directly but _none _of them, it would seem, were willing to prosecute the Minister of Magic or his leading officials. Harry knew that it was merely a question of political influence at this point – and truth be told, the odds weren't really in Lucius Malfoy or Severus Snape's favor, especially given their past record with the Ministry of Magic.

In effect, because of all the publicity surrounding them, the whole school was left talking about the case for almost a month – but that wasn't actually what bothered Harry at all. What _irked _Harry was the fact that Draco was deliberately avoiding her, as though she had some kind of incurable disease.

_ T_wo weeks after the Yule Ball, Harry had tried to approach Draco in the hallway after their Charms class to apologize for what had happened. To her dismay, after taking one look at her, the blonde Slytherin had frozen in place and had glared at her as though she were the filthiest creature to have ever walked the planet. After meeting her gaze for a few awkward moments, Draco finally just shook his head, and with a sneer, turned and quickly sauntered off towards the opposite direction.

Unfortunately, when Harry had told her friends about this, Ron and Neville just insisted that it was a _good _thing –Draco Malfoy wasn't bothering them anymore and he was even going personally out of his way to avoid Harry and her group. Even Hermione had reacted the same way, reassuring Harry that it was probably all for the best, given the political unease between James Potter and Lucius Malfoy.

For her part, Harry wasn't exactly sure why Draco avoiding her stung her so much...but apparently, it _did. _

It wasn't even about the fact that she and Draco had always been arch rivals before the Yule Ball had even happened. She just wanted him to_ stop _ignoring her and to treat her the way he's _always _treated her before – hell, having him bullying her like he did back in first year or even having to stomach his relentless perverted antics would have been better than the way he was acting around her now.

On the bright side, Harry was relieved to note that Cedric didn't appear to be blaming her at all for what had happened. On the contrary, the Hufflepuff had comforted Harry about her recent argument with her father, and he even suggested that Harry should talk to James again to try and sort the entire mess out. The advice was well-meant, but Harry had to keep herself from scoffing in his face.

Quite frankly, Harry was _furious _with James – not only for the way he had blatantly humiliated her in front of all her friends that night, but also because he had also humiliated Draco the same way.

What made Harry feel even _worse _was that, in spite of everything that had happened, Draco had surprisingly kept his end of their little 'bargain' after all. That morning, as Harry was eating breakfast with her friends in the Great Hall, a handsome eagle owl had flown right by her and scraped her arm, causing Harry to yelp just as the owl had dropped a piece of parchment onto her plate. Then, without another word, the eagle owl had flown off and Harry stared at the folded-up parchment in confusion.

When she opened it, and read out "_Listen to the egg underwater – DM.", _Harry looked up at Draco across the Hall. To her dismay, the Slytherin hadn't even directed a single glance her way and was currently too busy flirting shamelessly with a blonde Beauxbatons girl seated at the Slytherin table.

Evidently, flirting and dating practically every girl he could was something that Draco seemed to preoccupy a lot of his time with these past few days, and Harry could do nothing else but leave him to it.

That same night, as Harry had set herself into doing exactly what Draco suggested, she couldn't help but wonder how Cedric, Fleur or Krum were faring in figuring out their golden egg clue. Obviously, the other three must have figured it all out by now – the Yule Ball was just days away and Harry was almost certain that she was the only champion who still had to figure out what she was supposed to do.

Fortunately, after she locked herself in the Prefect's Bathroom that night and submerged the golden egg under the soapy, scented water of the large bath tub, she was able to solve the clue instantly.

"Mermaids."

Grunting in realization, Harry collapsed into the empty chair across from Hermione in the library the following afternoon and buried her face in her hands, her cheeks flushed from exhaustion. "The Second Task will have us dealing with _mermaids, _Hermione…_Mermaids._" Harry ignored the sympathetic look her brown-haired friend was giving her and sighed, flipping through her book about sea creatures.

"Mermaids are supposed to be taking something…I don't know…_'valuable' _of mine…And then I'd have an hour to retrieve it underwater before it's lost forever. Hermione–" Harry paused in the middle of flipping through her book pages again and stared imploringly at her. "How am I supposed to be able to breathe underwater for an _hour?" _She asked, her voice desperate as she glanced up at her friend.

Hermione winced in response, sighing and closing the thick textbook in front of her. "Dealing with mermaids shouldn't be a problem, Harry. They're generally non-violent creatures unless provoked…Although the whole 'looking underwater' bit is potentially problematic–" She paused at this.

Harry blinked at her, narrowing her eyes at the other girl in annoyance. "_Potentially _problematic?" She ignored the way Madam Pince, the Head Librarian seated in the corner of the room, had shushed her when her voice raised a few levels. "When's the last time _you _breathed underwater for an hour, Hermione? This is _hopeless, _we'll never be able to solve this in time!" Harry moaned to herself.

Letting out a tutting sound of disapproval, Hermione shook her head at her and reached over to whack her best friend lightly on the head with a small, rolled-up sheet of parchment. "Oh, stop being so negative about this, Harry! We still have tonight and tomorrow morning to figure this whole thing out, don't worry! In fact–" Hermione paused again and this time, she glared at Harry in pointed reproach.

"–we wouldn't _have _to be cramming desperately like this if you had begun studying your egg clue sooner. _Or_, maybe we could even–" Hermione's eyes lit up and she suddenly turned to Harry again in realization. "–ask _Cedric _about his strategy for tomorrow? Do you think he'd be willing to tell you?"

As soon as the words had left Hermione's mouth, Harry shook her head instantly and without as much as a second thought, she waved the suggestion away. "Although I have no doubt that Cedric _would _tell me his strategy if I begged him enough, I'm not about to do that to him. I know how much this tournament means to him, it wouldn't be fair for me to do that. Now, _Krum _on the other hand–" She smirked and turned to glance meaningfully at Hermione beside her, causing the other girl to blush.

"I _can't _do that either, Harry." Hermione sighed and rolled her eyes, gesturing over to the window a couple of feet away from them where they could glimpse the Durmstrang Ship visible along the castle grounds. "Whatever studying and training Viktor's been doing for the tournament, Karkaroff makes sure that he does it all _inside _their ship. He wouldn't even let me visit Viktor one time when I came over to invite him for lunch." She chuckled to herself at this and managed to let out a heavy sigh.

"Besides, I don't think _Ron _would be too happy with us trying to 'fraternize' with the enemy again. Oh, _honestly, _that boy!" Hermione's voice suddenly took on an irritated pitch as she rolled her eyes to herself and ranted further. "Did you know that he practically _accosted _me during the Ball that night? He went on and on about 'support for your own school', and 'betraying your best friend'. Ugh!"

Admittedly enough, Harry was unable to hide a smile as she listened to the rest of Hermione's complaints. She knew for a _fact _that the _real _reason behind Ron's growing antagonism towards Hermione as of late was only because of one thing – the redheaded Gryffindor had been smitten with Hermione ever since their first year, and Ron was just been too blind and too embarrassed to admit it.

It frustrated Harry to some extent – having her two best friends in love with each other and yet, neither were even aware of it. Most of the time, she and Neville were the ones caught in between.

_And speaking of Neville. _

Harry's gaze jerked up and her eyes flickered over to the corner of the library where Neville had just walked through, followed by none other than Professor Moody. As the two sauntered into the library – involved in what appeared to be an intense discussion – the pair stopped when they reached Harry and Hermione's table, and Moody glanced at them with his magical eye as Neville sat down.

"Granger. Potter." Moody's magical eye whirred for a few seconds until it rested on Harry, studying her expression carefully. "Potter, I'm afraid I'm going to have to borrow your friend away from you for the remainder of the night, I apologize. Dumbledore's orders you see, he has an errand for Miss Granger." He told her gruffly, and as expected, Harry's reaction was to gape and protest at him in panic.

"Sir, Hermione is currently helping me with my egg clue for the second task, I should be–"

"–_getting _a good night's rest at this point, Potter." Moody glared pointedly at her, before he scoffed and turned his gaze over to a wincing Hermione. "It's a good couple of hours before the second task…One would have presumed that you have already prepared thoroughly for it at this point. What's important now is that you get a good night's sleep and rest for tomorrow. _Nevertheless_–"He saw the way Harry was about to protest again, so he moved his attention to Neville and nodded pointedly at him.

"– as I understand that as a champion, you are entitled to practice all you want for the tournament before the second task…_Longbottom!" _Moody barked at Neville again, causing the Gryffindor to jump slightly in his seat in shock. "Stay with Potter for the rest of the night. Help her prepare whatever the bloody hell it is that she still needs to prepare. Miss Granger and I will be going." With that, Moody turned to Hermione again, waiting as Hermione reluctantly began to gather her things.

"I'll be back, I promise" She mouthed, meeting Harry's anxious look with a reassuring expression before she finally stood up and began following Moody out of the library. As soon as they were gone, and Harry and Neville were left to themselves, Harry sighed and turned to glance miserably at Neville.

"Great…I don't suppose you can help me breathe underwater, Neville?" She asked him dejectedly, but when Neville just winced at her and offered her an apologetic smile, she sighed again. "I didn't think so." Harry mumbled, leaning down and burying her face into her folded arms on the table "Where's Ron anyway? I thought he was supposed to be back from the kitchens by now." She asked.

"I was with him awhile ago, actually…But then, Moody asked to see him too. I wonder what it's about." Neville mused before he straightened and began glancing around the deserted library. "Wow… Since we're stuck waiting here and there's nobody around, you don't mind if I go look for some books about Herbology, would you Harry? Moody recommended me a book just now, I want to check it out." When she just grunted at him in response, Neville laughed and rushed towards the corner of the library.

While he was gone, Harry spent a good deal of minutes after that just staring at the Charms book in front of her, her eyes growing heavy as she tried to force herself to read the chapter on learning how to cast the 'Bubble Head Charm'. Unfortunately, before she could even reach a _fourth _of the page, her exhaustion seemed to have taken its toll on her and the Gryffindor began to fall into a light sleep.

Eventually, she was woken up about an hour and a half later – when Neville had returned and dropped a thick, dusty textbook onto their table, startling the Gryffindor and causing her to jerk awake.

"Wha–wha?" Harry blinked blearily and sat up, glaring at Neville with half-closed eyes as the other Gryffindor plopped down onto the seat across from her and rewarded her with an excited grin.

"Harry!" He grinned at her, gesticulating to the open textbook in front of him. "Did you know that according to this book, there's a witch in Tibet right now who's growing and harvesting gravity-resistant trees and flowers? It's extremely fascinating, I wonder how they hide that from muggles–"

"_Neville, _no offense." Harry blinked and rubbed her eyes sleepily, trying her best not to let her irritation with her friend show. "But I really don't _care _about plants…Now if there's a…_Tibetan turnip…_ that will help me breathe underwater for an hour, then _great. _But otherwise…I don't really care–"

She was cut off when Neville suddenly sat up in his seat and stared at her in realization, his eyes growing wide and a conspiratorial gleam lighting up his eyes. Ignoring Harry's sleepy glare at him, he grinned and suddenly grabbed her arm, hauling her up from her seat and rushing her towards the door.

"I don't know about turnips, Harry…But we could always use _gillyweed!_"

* * *

Severus sneered spitefully to himself as he and Lucius stood off to the side that morning and watched as James Potter, Sirius Black and Remus Lupin stood near the shallow edge of the lake – all three men kneeling down and helping a completely-drenched Harriet Potter clamber out of the water.

Around them, the rest of the Champions and their 'hostages' were already beginning to surface from the lake as well and were swimming quickly towards the shore. In particular, after Harry had managed to retrieve her hostage first that morning, Cedric Diggory had come in second, with Viktor Krum and Fleur Delacour coming in as third and fourth, respectively. All of the judges for the tournament were off to the side now, and were carefully discussing amongst themselves on how they were going to grade and rank each of the individual champions' performance during the Second Task.

Narrowing his eyes, Severus slowly shifted his attention from the judges to James Potter again, watching as the Minister had pulled Harry aside and wrapped a clean, white towel around her shivering frame. As they waited for Ludo Bagman's announcement, they watched as Sirius and Remus helped Ron Weasley out of the lake as well, laughing when the redhead tripped and fell back clumsily into the water.

"Attention! Attention, my dear students and guests!"

Blinking, Lucius and Severus both turned their gazes lazily over to where Ludo Bagman was smiling jovially in front of the tournament judges. "The winner for the second task is…_Harriet Potter!" _

Severus' angry sneer widened when the crowd of Gryffindors and most of the Hogwarts students began screaming and cheering Harry's name, causing the dark-haired Gryffindor to redden in embarrassment. After giving Bagman and the crowd of students an awkward nod of acknowledgment, Harry retreated and hastily hid behind Sirius Black's tall frame, glaring at him when he laughed at her.

"In second place…_Cedric Diggory!" _

The crowd of Hogwarts students cheered again and this time, even James Potter continued to smile and applause as Amos Diggory proudly raised his son's hand into the air when his name was called. Unlike Harry, Cedric nodded at the crowd and he rewarded them with a charming, handsome smile.

"In third place…_Viktor Krum…_And in fourth place, _Fleur Delacour! _Congratulations to all–_"_

"You came here for a reason, Lucius." Severus didn't bother waiting for the end of Ludo Bagman's announcements as he drew his gaze away from Krum and Fleur to glance at Lucius beside him. "Otherwise, I'd be forced to come to the conclusion that you came here purely to watch the rest of Harriet Potter's spectacular bouts of luck just like the rest of us." He mocked in a loud, mocking voice.

"Indeed, Severus." Inevitably, this drew a dry laugh from Lucius as his lips twitched into a similar smirk of his own. Without meeting the other man's eyes, he kept his carefully guarded gaze on James and Harry as he spoke. "Actually, I've come to tell you something you might want to hear." Before Severus could say anything in response, Lucius' eyes narrowed and his voice lowered into a soft whisper. "I've…_finally _confirmed the traitor that you've been wanting me to find all these years." He muttered.

At his words, Severus stiffened and the sarcastic expression in his features vanished – replaced by a tense sneer. Noting the visible change in the other man's demeanor, Lucius reluctantly continued.

"The Potter's Secret Keeper…on the night of Lily Potter's murder…was _not _Petunia Dursley. In fact, the real Secret Keeper hadn't even changed all along." Lucius' eyes turned grim as he quickly flicked his gaze to Severus again, watching the other Slytherin cautiously from the corner of his eye.

"The person who _ratted_ out the Potters to the Dark Lord that night…was none other than…_Peter Pettigrew." _

As though on cue, both Lucius and Severus suddenly turned to glance at the small man in question just as Peter Pettigrew was ironically on his way out of the Castle towards James and Harry. Unfortunately, as soon as Peter saw the expression on both men's face – particularly, the amount of utmost, murderous fury that was barely contained in Severus' expression – Peter stiffened, and he suddenly stopped in his tracks, swiftly changing his direction and hurrying back towards Hogwarts castle.

When it looked as though Severus was on the verge of tearing after him, Lucius reached over and gripped the other man's arm, keeping him rooted in place. "We can _not _make a scene, Severus—"

Severus let out a vicious growl at this and tried to shove the taller Slytherin away. "Lucius, that's the man responsible for Lily's death! You expect me to just _stand _here and do _nothing?!"_ He seethed.

"We have no _choice_!" Lucius snapped back, his eyes narrowing warningly as he watched Pettigrew nearly tripping over his own robes in his haste to get back up the castle. ""You saw how that trial we last brought up with the Ministry went. The courts would sooner listen to a drunken _badger _than to listen to Death Eaters, like us." He sneered to himself in disgust. "We can't do _anything _until we have the right amount of _evidence, _the right _timing, _and most importantly—" His eyes flicked to Harry.

"—the right _voice_ who is willing to speak for us._" _He turned to Severus again, noting the way the other man was seething in anger and was barely able to control himself from running after Pettigrew.

"Potter will _have _to listen! He'd also want to _kill _the man responsible for his wife's death–"

Lucius' sneer hardened again as he moved his gaze from Harry to James. "To James Potter, the one responsible for his wife's death is the Dark Lord and his Death Eaters." He glanced over at Severus again and gave him a pointed glare. "Why do you think he's so intent on sending us _both _to Azkaban? He's not going to believe us when we tell him one of his precious friends is the _real _person responsible!"

"So what the _hell _do you expect me to do, Lucius?! You want me to stand here and do _nothing?!_" Severus exploded again, his eyes flashing dangerously as he glared at Lucius in contempt.

"The _bastard _responsible for Lily's death is _running _free out there–"

"Relay this information to Dumbledore immediately." Lucius bluntly cut him off, ignoring Severus' furious expression as he tore his gaze from James and Harry and began to straighten his robes.

"Tell Albus that I have confirmed his suspicions. He'll want to hear this right away. Until then–"

He sneered again as his gaze flicked over to where Peter disappeared into the school entrance.

"Keep a close eye on that little rat."

* * *

**A/N: **As always, I would like to thank each and every one of you wonderful darlings out there who took the time to review and tell me how much you're enjoying the story so far. I can't stress enough how much I truly appreciate your feedback and comments. I love you all so much! MMMMMWAH! :D

**Next Chapter: **The next chapter is the last for Harry's fourth year… Aside from the third task and the graveyard scene, do you guys want me to include anything else before we end Harry's fourth year? :D

**DON'T FORGET TO REVIEW! TELL ME WHAT YOU GUYS THINK, MMKAY? TILL NEXT TIME! :D **


	9. The Third Task

**Harriet Potter and the Minister of Magic **

**Disclaimer:** I don't own Harry Potter or any of the characters you recognize from the HP books in this story. All I own is the plot. Everything else belongs to JK Rowling.

**Pairings**: DM/femHP (eventual). CD/femHP. RW/HG. BZ/GW. JP/LP (past). SS/LP (one-sided).

**Warnings:** Spoilers from canon (Books 4 to 7). Occasional time jumps from chapter to chapter. Mature content later on.

**Notes: **I'm so sorry for the delay of this chapter! I actually had a lot of trouble writing it. It's quite long, longer than the other chapters of the story. And I had some trouble trying to figure out how I was going to squeeze everything in. While I was writing it, I realized too late that there were a _lot _of things that happened before and during the third task. Hahaha. So I apologize if some parts seem a bit rushed or squished together, I promise things _will _begin to slow down once we reach Harry's sixth year. So without further ado, enjoy! :D

* * *

**Chapter 9 – The Third Task**

Draco and Harriet spent their Potions lesson in silence – broken only by the bubbling of their cauldron of the few words that Draco and Harry exchanged whenever they had to ask each other about the potion. Otherwise, Draco was particularly careful not to say anything else to his Gryffindor rival, and the only times he allowed himself to look at her was when he was positively _sure _she wouldn't notice.

_What the bloody hell is so special about her anyway?! _Draco fumed to himself as he stared at her again out of the corner of his eye, watching as the dark-haired Gryffindor gingerly raised a hand and carefully tucked a lock of hair behind her ear. _I've dated dozens of pretty girls before, she shouldn't be any different. What the hell is it about her anyway, Malfoy?! _He asked himself angrily, gritting his teeth.

He didn't know the answer to that, to be honest, but Draco _did _know that ever since their first year, he had been inexplicably drawn to Harriet Potter like a moth to a flame. Truthfully, Draco was _furious _with himself for having gotten involved in Harriet Potter's political spotlight, he _hated _that he was attracted to the annoying brat – especially when she got him into this mess in the first place.

There's just…_something_…about Harriet Potter.

He jumped from his seat as soon as Potions was over and began storming towards the exit.

"Malfoy, _wait!_"

Draco's eyes narrowed, and he tried not to wince when he heard the desperation in her voice. He urged himself to walk faster, intent on exiting the classroom before Harry could reach him. Unfortunately, the Gryffindor proved to be lighter and a lot more agile than he was and before Draco realized what happening, Harry had already reached over and grabbed the blonde by his shirt collar.

"Potter, what the bloody hell do you think you're doing–"

"_Inside, _Malfoy!" Harry suddenly hissed at him, ignoring his glare of indignation, she cupped a hand over his mouth to muffle his protests and used his momentary surprise to shove the blonde Slytherin roughly into an empty broom closet behind them. Once inside, she ignored his further attempts to protest and grudgingly raised her wand, illuminating the area with a simple lumos spell.

"Really…? Are you going to rape me now, Potter? I'm flattered and all but–" Draco pretended to make a face as he lazily trailed his gaze around the small, dusty broom cupboard in disdain. "–if you _were _going to take advantage of me, I would have preferred a slightly cleaner scene of the crime–"

"Oh shut up! Don't flatter yourself, you prat!" Harry hissed at him again, her eyes flashing with irritation as she promptly pushed the Slytherin backwards against the wall again to keep him in place. "You've been avoiding me, Malfoy. Now, I just want to know _why._" She demanded, scowling at him.

Draco scowled at her, unable to think of a response. Truth be told, he _had _been trying to avoid any encounter with her if he could help it – but it was more a _self-preservation _issue than anything else. Severus was right – getting involved with Harriet Potter was _way _too dangerous for his own good.

"_Now _who's the one flattering herself?" He scoffed, narrowing his eyes and looking away so that the Gryffindor couldn't study his expression. "I _haven't _been avoiding you, Potter. I've just been…_busy. _Now, get off me before I accuse you of molestation!" He retorted irritably, and before she could do anything else, he pushed her off with one shove, causing the Gryffindor to let out a meep in surprise.

"_Hey–"_

"See you, scarhead." Draco shot her one last sneer just as he was heading out the door of the broom closet when Harry had lunged at him again and this time, she had grabbed his arm and pushed him back against the wall. Then, to his utter disbelief, the Gryffindor ignored the rest of Draco's attempts to protest as she raised her fist high into the air and brought it slamming down against his eye.

_ "OW! SON OF A –!" _

Draco pulled away from her and squinted blearily, trying to blink the stars out of his eyes. When he finally came around, he was seething as he straightened back up and reached straight for her neck.

_ "WHY YOU–"_

Unfortunately, before he could even reach within a foot of her; Harry was already reaching for the handle of the closet door and backing away, her panicked footsteps scraping against the floor. When he growled and attempted to tackle her again, however, her lips twitched – and Draco saw her trying to hide a smile as she twisted around him and burst through the closet doors, running out into the hallways.

_"DON'T THINK THAT I'LL HOLD BACK JUST BECAUSE YOU'RE A GIRL!" _ He raged after her.

_ "_Oh yeah?! Catch me if you can then, Malfoy!" Harry taunted over her shoulder, smirking as she sped like _fire _through the student-filled corridors, expertly evading the furious blonde at her heels. Draco heard a few of the other students gasping in shock and confusion around them – no doubt wondering why the two famous Hogwarts rivals were at each other's throats again when, frankly, the last time he and Harry were seen fighting and chasing each other like this was back in their third year.

_"YOU PUNCH LIKE A GIRL!" _

_ "I STILL PUNCH STRONGER THAN YOU, SISSY BOY!" _She retorted easily, and to Draco's stunned indignation – just as they were turning a sharp corner – Harry grabbed a large, thick textbook from one of the Ravenclaw first years passing by and hurled it right at him, forcing Draco to jerk away to evade it.

_ "BESIDES, I WAS JUST HELPING DEFLATE YOUR BIG HEAD!" _She added, grinning when Draco cursed loudly when the textbook sailed over his shoulder and ended up sprawling onto the ground.

Eventually, when their goose chase managed to reach the outside of the school, Draco noticed Harriet suddenly slowing down in front of him, and he couldn't help but run faster and mock her again.

"What's the matter? Is the little girl too afraid to run out of the castle because Daddy told her not to go outside? How utterly _pathetic _you are_, _Potter. Can't you do anything by yourself?" Draco drawled tauntingly at her, sneering wider at her when he saw the way Harry stiffened at his remark.

Evidently, his last comment seemed to have bothered Harry because the Gryffindor began to run even faster after he had said this – and this time, she had even bent down to yank her heeled shoes off her feet. Unfortunately, this proved to be a wrong move, because as Harry reached down to yank her shoes off, she tripped over her own feet – gasping sharply when she almost fell right into a nearby pond.

Just when she thought that she had regained her balance by the edge of the water, however, Draco sneered and intentionally crashed into her from behind, causing Harriet to meep out loud as they both ended up careening forward – falling right into the shallow water of the pond with a resounding—

_**SPLASH! **_

_Cold. Cold. Cold. Cold. _Draco gritted his teeth as he felt the ice cold water seeping into his clothes but still, he struggled to his feet and tackled Harry into the water, causing the Gryffindor to give out a 'squeak' of protest as she was knocked off balance again and forced to sprawl back into the pond.

"_MALFOY, YOU JERK! THIS WATER IS FREEZING COLD! " _She seethed as she shot back up from the water and lunged at him, grabbing at his collar and struggling to shove the Slytherin onto his back.

"_DO YOU THINK I LIKE GETTING DRENCHED TOO?! THIS IS YOUR FAULT!" _He snapped back at her.

They wrestled with each other for some time – she punched at his face, he twisted her arm above her head, she scratched at his face, he bit her wrist, she screamed into his ear, he yanked her hair. In fact, both teenagers were screaming profanities and cursing at each other so much that neither was even aware of the fact that they were covered in mud and that the air around them had started to rain.

When Draco somehow managed to maneuver their position around again so that he had her pinned under him, Harry growled and struggled furiously underneath him, her eyes flashing with anger.

"_YOU SISSY! LET ME GO NOW AND FIGHT LIKE A MAN, YOU COWARD!"_ She screeched at him, and in his incredulity, Draco kept her pinned underneath him and stared down at her with wide eyes.

"Bloody _hell, _Potter!" Draco blurted out as he reached up and used the back of his wrist to wipe off the trickle of blood from the corner of his lips. "I forgot how much of a brute you were!" He mused.

In response, she growled and struggled more furiously against him – but when Draco just sneered and continued to glare down at her as he pinned her effortlessly beneath him, she eventually froze and blinked up at him, her eyes widening when she suddenly realized the hilarity of the scene.

"Are you smiling–" Draco sputtered in the middle of his carefully crafted, witty comment and stared at her, watching in utter disbelief as Harry seemed to stare up at him in amused realization – her lips beginning to twitch with muffled laughter. "You are the most confusing girl I've ever met—"

For his part, Draco tried to glare at her – but unfortunately, the infectiousness of her laughter began to affect him as well and before he knew it, he was fighting back a smile of his own. Sighing, he released her and sat up, shaking his head as he watched the laughing girl struggling to do the same.

"Strange." Shaking her head, Harry grinned as she sat up, her cheeks flushing and her eyes dropping to her feet. She gestured between them, indicating their torn clothing and mussed appearance.

"I…_missed _this."

She tried to force another laugh at herself to dissipate the full implication of her words, but Draco stared intently at her for a long moment in thought, carefully considering what she had meant. After awhile, his lips twitched, and he had to turn away so she wouldn't see his amused smile at her.

"Like I said…" Draco chuckled quietly, shaking his head to himself. "You are one _weird _girl."

Harriet smiled at him then – the first genuine, radiant smile that she had ever given him – and in that moment, Draco was taken back. Even with the fact that her hair was a wild, tangled _mess_ and she was completely drenched, Draco couldn't help think that she looked really cute all smudged with mud.

_Cute and sexy. _He added to himself, hiding a smirk as he let his eyes trail down from her mud-smudged face to the way her drenched Gryffindor uniform was clinging tightly to her developing curves.

"_This–_" He managed to draw Harry's attention away just when she was on the verge of noticing the way Draco's gaze was lingering on certain areas of her body. "–is for your father humiliating me that night…And for causing all those papers to portray me as a teenage pervert." He reached over and flicked his finger against the tip of her nose, causing the younger teen to make a face at him in annoyance.

"Hey–"

"But _this–" _One corner of Draco's lips twisted upwards into a self-satisfied smirk as he reached down into the water and scooped a handful of dirt into his hands. Then, ignoring the shocked confusion on Harriet's face, he didn't give the Gryffindor any further time to react before he had leaned over, yanked on her collar and dumped the whole handful of dirt down the front of her white school blouse.

"–is for you _ALLOWING _him to do it."

At Harriet's resounding shriek of disgust, Draco smirked in self-satisfaction.

"Malfoy, that's disgusting! I can't believe you–" In spite of herself, Harry looked caught between a mixture of disgust and hilarity, but even as she struggled to clean the dirt out from underneath her shirt, Draco was already grinning as he stood up and offering a hand out to her to help her stand back up.

"So…Call it even?" His eyes gleamed with laughter as he stared down at her, watching in amusement as Harry glared up at him and continued to clean out her mud-stained shirt. Just as he was about to help pull her out of the pond, a gleam in Harry's eye caught his attention – and she _yanked._

_**SPLASH! **_

Horrified, Draco sputtered as he found himself sprawled haphazardly in the pond again, his eyes flashing dangerously as he glared up at the laughing girl in front of him. Harry plopped herself down right on top of him and straddled his waist, quelling any attempts of his escape. She bent down, scooped a handful of mud from underneath the water, and very _slowly _began to rub the mud right into his hair.

_"ARRRRGHHHHH! POTTER, I'M GOING TO KILL YOU–"_

_ "_Now _THAT–_" She cut off the rest of Draco's screeching protests as she stood back up and smiled sweetly at him – and the smug, victorious smirk on her face was enough to make Draco see red.

"–is for avoiding me." Harry smiled sweetly at him, giving the Slytherin one last cheeky grin.

"_Now _we're even, Malfoy."

Draco gaped wordlessly after her as she began sauntering back towards the school castle.

* * *

Barty Crouch was a _lunatic._

Harry was positively _sure _of this time, and if the fact that the Ministry Official had spent the last couple of years of his life accusing every single person he disliked as a Death Eater wasn't proof enough, Harry could prove this time by how Crouch had all but _attacked _Viktor Krum in the Quidditch Pitch.

She, Cedric, Fleur, and Krum had been summoned by Ludo Bagman, and they were told to meet him out in the Quidditch Pitch – or what was left of it, anyway. As Harry and Cedric had walked out into the grassy field, their jaws dropped, and they gaped in horror at what used to be their beloved Quidditch Pitch, which had now been transformed into a rather complicated, intricate _maze _of some sort. From there, Bagman then proceeded to give an explanation of what to expect for the Third Task.

The task actually turned out to be quite simple at this point – they had to get through the maze somehow, find the TriWizard Cup that was waiting for them in the very middle, and whoever got their first was the TriWizard Champion. It would have actually seemed _too _easy, to be honest, so that when Fleur had asked Bagman to provide them more details of the task, he grinned and told them the catch.

Unfortunately, the maze would be filled with all sorts of obstacles and traps for them the champions to get by – mostly challenges to test the limits of their magical abilities. To top it all off, the maze would be littered with all sorts of magical creatures, from the most harmless flobberworm, to the most dangerous boggart, snakes, or even a few nasty blast-ended skrewts popping up here and there.

On the bright side, she _was _currently tied with Cedric for first place, and as luck would have it, the two leading champions would get a head start and would be released earlier into the maze. Harriet supposed that would give Cedric an advantage, since she really wasn't intent on winning the cup anyway.

In any case, as soon as Bagman had finished explaining the Third Task to them and she and Cedric eventually began walking back towards the castle, Krum surprised them both when he suddenly approached her from behind and asked politely if he could talk to her in private near the Forbidden forest. Although Cedric didn't want to leave her alone at first, she managed to convince him otherwise.

Interestingly enough, Krum had just wanted to talk to Harry about asking Hermione out.

"Am I hearing you correctly?" Harry's lips twitched as she stared at the tall Quidditch star in front of her, amused at how Krum was obviously trying to mask his embarrassment with indifference. "You want me to find out if Hermione would want to visit you this summer…?" She asked him, grinning.

Blushing, Krum had glared at her for the loud voice with which she had spoken, but he nodded at her again and waited until Harry had gotten over her amusement before he explained himself. Eventually, after she and Krum worked out how she was going to bring the issue up with Hermione during dinner, they were just about to part ways when _Barty Crouch, _of all people, had startled them by suddenly jumping out from behind a tall tree, causing both Harriet and Krum to jump back in alarm.

Krum had reacted first, and the Bulgarian Quidditch Player looked shocked when he noticed Crouch's appearance – from his disheveled, grimy gray hair, to the grungy, blood-speckled state of his Ministry robes. Harriet doubted she would have recognized the man at all save for his voice. In fact, Crouch looked particularly exhausted, as though he had been traveling for several days without any rest.

That hadn't been the strangest thing about him though. The strangest thing was actually the manner with which the old man was behaving. He was talking rapidly and gesticulating madly with his hands, as though he were talking to this person in front of him that both Harriet and Krum could not see.

The man was conversing with a _tree – _something was obviously very, _very_ wrong.

"Mr. Crouch?" Harriet cringed as she stepped forward and attempted to snap him back to reality.

_ "_"….And when you've finished with those tasks, Weatherby, I'd like for you to owl Dumbledore about the number of Durmstrang students who will be attending the tournament. Karkaroff has informed me that there will be around twelve…" Crouch's voice trailed off, and his mouth began to sag.

"Isn't he one of your father's officials?" Krum asked her, his features creased in confusion.

"He _was…_" Harry agreed quietly as she stepped towards Crouch again, her hand ghosting steadily over her wand. "But I'm not so sure if he's still fit to hold _any _office at this point…Mr. Crouch?"

"Before I forget, send an owl to Madame Maxime Ask her how many students she'll be bringing now that Karkaroff will be bringing a dozen. Do that for me, Mr. Weatherby will you? Will you?!" Crouch froze, and his eyes bulged as he lost his voice and began muttering soundlessly to the tree behind him.

"Merlin, what is _wrong _with him?!" Krum whispered, his voice laced with growing nervousness.

Truth be told, Harry couldn't really blame him – and their fears were only escalated even more when Crouch suddenly began shrieking and spouting off these incoherent, senseless garble about how he needed to tell Dumbledore something important right away. He followed this peculiar request up by asking on whether or not Harriet was "his" or "Dumbledore's", which she didn't really understand.

But then, Crouch's next whispered words at her caused all the blood to drain from her face.

"I…broke free…Imperio…must tell…Dumbledore… must…tell…the Minister…Bertha…_dead…_my fault… my…_son…_tell…_Dumbledore…_Dark Lord…stronger…" Crouch's voice lowered into a dry, raspy whisper until he was practically choking as he struggled to speak the words loud enough for her to hear.

The Ministry Official began talking to the tree again, and Harry was pale as she stared at Krum.

"Merlin, the man has gone mad…" Harry swallowed, giving Krum an imploring look. "Look, I'm going to go get the Headmaster. Would you mind staying here and watching him until I get back?"

Not unexpectedly, Krum looked rather uncomfortable with the idea, but she didn't really give him much of a choice when she didn't wait for his answer and took off towards Dumbledore's office.

* * *

"Let me get this straight, Harry." Ron stared at her in disbelief from where he and Neville were seated in front of the fireplace of the Gryffindor Common Room that evening. "You went off to fetch Dumbledore, and when you came back, Krum was unconscious? Did that loony Crouch do it?" He asked.

"That's just it, Ron…I'm not sure." Harry replied in exasperation, sighing and collapsing against the backrest of her seat. "All I know is, when Dumbledore and I got there, Crouch was _nowhere _to be found and Krum was knocked out cold on the ground." She frowned to herself as he remembered the strangeness of the scene. "Karkaroff was _furious. _He went on about how I probably lured Krum out there to intentionally take him out of the tournament, and how Crouch probably conspired with me. Snape didn't look all that innocent either, though Dumbledore sent him out to search for Crouch." She added.

"Did he find him?" Neville asked curiously as he glanced up from his Herbology textbook.

Harry shook her head again, and her eyebrows fused together as she stared at the fireplace in thought. "They confirmed that he _was _in the castle, but there was no trace of him anywhere. And Hagrid said that he hadn't seen anyone leaving the grounds either so it's strange that he just…_disappeared._"

"Maybe Crouch just apparated." Ron suggested, popping a jellybean into his mouth.

Harry and Neville both turned to glare at him, their eyes narrowing in irritated exasperation. "Ron, you _can't _apparate in or out of Hogwarts. How many times will Hermione have to remind you about that?" Neville mused out loud, smirking at the miffed glare that the redhead sent him in return.

"Well..I was just—" Ron's ears turned red, and in a poor attempt to diver their attention away from him, he turned to glare accusingly at Harry. "—you shouldn't have agreed to talk to Viktor Krum in the first place, Harry! He's from the enemy school, we're not supposed to be making friends with him—"

"That's what Sirius said." Harry interrupted him with an irritated sigh, shaking her head and dropping Sirius' letter back on her lap. "Though, _his _reasoning was more on – how I should be more careful about the people I trust and hang around with these days, considering someone out there wants me dead." She scoffed at herself, rolling her eyes. "Like I've never heard that before." She chimed in.

"What did your Dad say about what happened?" Neville asked her again, and this time, he gave her his full attention as he sat up in his chair. "Did he believe you about suspecting Barty Crouch?"

At the mention of her father, Harriet's features creased into another scowl, and she couldn't help give Neville a pointed glare in response. "I haven't _seen _or spoken to Dad at all since the Yule Ball two weeks ago. I think he's in Egypt right now, signing some trade agreement with a goblin sect there. I haven't been able to contact him. _Grandfather's _the one keeping tabs on me now while Dad's gone."

Ron and Neville both gave her a sympathetic wince, and the former of which shrugged at her. "Well, look on the bright side. At least your grandfather isn't likely to come storming into the castle the minute you talk to the wrong student or something. Did Remus or Tonks say anything to you?" He asked.

Harry glanced at him and nodded slowly, leaning back against her seat again. "Remus sent me a letter yesterday. He just…told me the same thing Sirius did – only nicer." She sighed and reached up to massage her temples in thought. "He also said that if something bad really _did _happen to Crouch, and he really _did _disappear, then that would mean that whoever did it…was right there _waiting _for me to leave before he chose to strike. I could have been standing a foot away from the culprit." She told him quietly.

They paled at her words, both Gryffindors suddenly looking uncomfortable as they stared at Harry with wide, startled eyes. Eventually, when the chilling silence became unbearable for all three of them, Neville managed to divert their attention by laughing nervously and pointing to a nearby window.

"Don't look now…But there's Hermes again, Harry." He managed a weak grin as he said this, and fortunately, the comment was enough to break Harry out of her trance as she looked up and smiled helplessly at the large, tawny brown owl peering at her through one of the common room windows.

"Oh that Hufflepuff…There he goes again." Harry mumbled under her breath in exasperation, but in spite of herself, she couldn't prevent a smile from breaking out into her face as she rushed towards the window and allowed Cedric's large owl in. As soon as Hermes flew into the common room and deposited yet _another _note and parcel onto her lap, she flushed and looked up at her friends' smirks.

"That pretty-boy boyfriend of yours _really _knows how to lay it on thick, doesn't he?" Ron commented with a disgusted grimace as he watched Harry unwrapping the parcel on her lap. "So what did Diggory give you this time? Is it another bouquet of roses?" He teased, sniggering under his breath.

Pointedly ignoring the amusement in his voice, the smile on her face widened slightly when she unwrapped the parchment on her lap and found herself staring at an adorable, miniature-sized, niffler stuffed toy. As she read Cedric's short letter attached to it, however, the blush on her cheeks darkened.

_**Came across this in Hogsmeade, and I immediately thought of you. Saw you with one during Magical Creatures today. You looked really pretty, as always. Can't wait to see you. Love, Cedric.**_

"Merlin's beard, Potter!"

Harry had to squelch the gasp of indignation that escaped her when she realized that Fred and George Weasley had been reading the note from over her shoulder. "That boyfriend of yours is such a needy little _sap, _isn't he?Can he even survive a _day _without smothering you like that all the time?" Fred teased, ignoring her sharp protest as he snatched the letter from her hand and held it above her head.

"Give it!" She growled and jumped up, trying to wrestle Fred's arm behind him but the older teen just laughed as he and George easily evaded her and began running up the Gryffindor staircase.

* * *

Needless to say, the flush on Harry's face became one of utter humiliation as she followed Ron out of the Gryffindor Common Room to their Divinations Class the next morning – with nearly all the Gryffindors reading Cedric's note to her – care of none other than Lee Jordan and the Weasley twins.

It certainly hadn't helped that Cedric had unknowingly added to the fire by kissing her during breakfast in the Great Hall that morning, which sent the whole Gryffindor table into muffled sniggers.

Sometimes, Harry _really _hated her housemates.

"Come on, we're late for your favorite class." Ron joked after breakfast as they began walking up the stairs to their Divinations classroom. As soon as they got there, the two Gryffindors didn't even bother taking their books out as they immediately situated themselves in the farthest seats in the room.

About an hour later, it didn't take long before Harry began to fall asleep. She couldn't exactly remember the details of what she began to dream about, but then she suddenly jerked awake, startling the entire class when she began screaming loudly and clutching her scar as she collapsed to the floor.

It was a good couple of minutes later when she was finally able to regain her senses, and when she did, she realized that everyone around the room, including her housemates, was gaping at her.

"H–Harry…" Ron's voice was laced with worry as he stared down at her from where he was leaning over her pale, trembling form. "You were screaming and clutching your scar…Are you ok?"

Harry didn't answer him – nor did she have time to explain. She suddenly jumped to her feet and cast a quick, furtive glance around the room before she began heading to the exit. She ignored Professor Trelawney's shrill protests as she stormed out and began racing towards Dumbledore's office.

Although the Headmaster wasn't much of a help regarding her dream, the pensieve in his office _did_ provide Harriet with _very _important information that she couldn't have found out anywhere else.

Crouch _had, _in fact, sentenced his own son to Azkaban, and the Death Eater who had divulged this information to the Ministry of Magic at the time was none other than _Igor Karkaroff. _He had exchanged the information for his freedom, and from there, Crouch's political reputation went downhill.

"You were right, you know."

Harry spoke softly as she approached Draco before class the next morning, diverting the Slytherin's attention from the girl leaning against the wall in front of him to her grim expression. Startled, Draco looked up, drawing his arm away from where it rested against the wall beside the girl's head.

"What are you – right about what, Potter?" Draco asked, confused as he suddenly ignored the scowling girl in front of him altogether and turned his full attention to Harry. "What do you even mean?"

Harry shook her head furiously at him and clutched her books tighter against her chest. She was vaguely aware that the girl Draco had been flirting with – Harry remembered her as Lisa Turpin – was glaring at her for distracting Draco's attention away, but at this point, she couldn't really care.

"Barty Crouch and his son." Harry noticed the way Draco's eyes suddenly dawned in realization. "Even Igor Karkaroff. You were right about _everything._ I need answers." Further ignoring Lisa Turpin's attempt to protest at Harry's intrusion, she stepped toward him. "I need your help." She whispered.

Draco's expression darkened as he pulled himself away from Lisa and suddenly straightened. Ignoring the look of surprise on both girls' face, he reached over and grabbed Harry roughly by the hand.

"Come with me." He told her firmly, a grim look on his face.

Then, without saying another word, the Slytherin suddenly yanked at Harriet's hand and quickly began dragging her down the corridors. They stopped in the middle of a long, deserted hallway near the Slytherin dungeons, and Harry finally managed to look up again to gape at him, Draco lowered his voice.

"Tell me what you saw, Potter."

* * *

When Harry heard the loud uproar of the crowd of students outside, she felt sick.

Taking a quick peek outside her tent, she caught a glimpse of Ron, Hermione, Neville, and the rest of her Gryffindor friends cheering from the bottom seats of the Quidditch stands. Seated above them were James Potter, Augustus Potter, and a dozen high-ranking Ministry officials. Harry gulped and shakily drew back inside her tent, her face pale and her hands shaking as she collapsed into her seat.

_**"GOOD EVENING, MY DEAR STUDENTS! ARE YOU ALL READY TO BEGIN?!"**_

Harry jumped back up from her seat at the sound of Ludo Bagman's loud, jovial voice blaring loudly throughout the entire Quidditch Pitch – followed by an answering uproar of cheers and screams.

_**"WELL, I CERTAINLY HOPE OUR FOUR CHAMPIONS ARE AS READY AS YOU ARE, FOLKS!" **_

For a few seconds, Harry entertained the idea of actually punching the man's lights out.

_**"IT GIVES ME GREAT PLEASURE HERE, TONIGHT…TO WELCOME YOU ALL TO THE THIRD AND FINAL TASK OF THE TRIWIZARD TOURNAMENT!" **_The crowd of students began cheering and applauding again, and Harry eventually tuned them out as she sighed and shrank back inside her tent. _**"AS WE SPEAK, OUR YOUNG CHAMPIONS ARE ALREADY IN THEIR RESPECTIVE TENTS, GETTING READY. NOW…THE RULES FOR THE THIRD TASK ARE SIMPLE. WHEN THE CANON BLOWS, EACH ONE OF THEM WILL RUN INTO THE MAZE ONE-BY-ONE… AND THE FIRST ONE TO GET TO THE CUP IN THE CENTER—"**_

"_Potter!" _

Harry jerked at the urgent hiss behind her and whirled around, her eyes narrowing as she tried to pinpoint the source of the sound. When she caught sight of the tall, familiar shadow standing outside the other entrance of her tent, her eyes widened in confusion and she opened the tent flap to let him in.

"Malfoy, what do you think you're doing here?" She hissed back at him, but her glare quickly dissipated into a worried frown when Draco entered the tent and turned to her with a panicked look. Wincing, he took one quick look around the small tent to make sure there was no one else inside, before he shook his head hastily and turned to her with a strange, fearful expression in his mercury gray eyes.

"Potter." He began, oblivious Bagman's booming voice outside the tent. "You can't go into that maze. It's a trap." He told her, and when Harry gaped at him and her eyes narrowed in disbelief, Draco shook his head and his voice laced with anger. "You can't honestly tell me that you're going to _not _to believe me again at this point! Did you understand what I said, Potter? You can't go into that maze!"

"What are you talking about, Malfoy?!" Harry snapped at him, but when she turned around to walk away, she gasped when Draco had reached out and grasped her arm, yanking her back against him.

Visibly shaking, he ignored Harry's attempts to protest and grabbed at her shoulders, giving the Gryffindor a furious shake. "The cup…The TriWizard Cup in the middle of the maze…It's a portkey, Harry! It's a bloody portkey, and I don't know where it's going to take you or why they planted it there, but I _do _know that it was a trap specifically set up for _you! _Going into that maze now is suicide!" He raged at her.

Her eyes widened at his words, and before she knew it, Harriet felt all the blood beginning to drain from her face as she stared back at him and managed to answer in a soft, disbelieving whisper.

"Are you sure?" She stammered quietly, her form tensing as she watched Draco's features beginning to crease into a flustered grimace. "How do you know this, Draco? Why warn me?" She asked.

He sneered back at her as though she had insulted him, and the look in his eyes was one of furious indignation as he stepped back from her and clenched his fists. "Gee, I don't know, scarhead… Maybe it's because – as much as I hate your guts – I don't want you to die?!" He caught himself when he noticed the way Harry had paled at the word "die", and swallowing the lump in his throat, he fell silent.

Harry stared at him wordlessly, her hands trembling as she gripped her wand.

"Are you sure?" She croaked out again, tensing when Draco glared at her and nodded grimly before he spoke again, and this time, the chilling truth behind his words sent a shiver down Harry's spine.

"I suspect that they're after _you_."

She blinked, her face ashen and her heart pounding rapidly in her chest when she saw the fear in his gaze. Finally, when Harry somehow managed to convince herself that Draco was, in fact, telling the truth, the canon had already sounded, and Bagman's voice reverberated around the Quidditch Pitch.

_**"AND THE FIRST CANON HAS SOUNDED, LADIES AND GENTS! LET'S ALL CHEER FOR OUR TWO LEADING CHAMPIONS FROM HOGWARTS – MISTER CEDRIC DIGGORY AND MISS HARRIET POTTER!" **_

_Oh no…Cedric! _Harry's panicked green eyes suddenly flicked back and forth between Draco's warning glare at her and the loud audience of watching students cheering and screaming for her outside.

"Don't try it, Potter." Draco warned in a low growl, but she was already lost in her own thoughts.

_ I have to warn Cedric about the portkey! _Harry realized in panic, but just as she was about to run out of the tent toward the maze, Draco's grip on her arm held her back, causing her to fall back against him. Screaming out in frustration, she struggled and thrashed against him, trying to wrestle herself free.

"Malfoy, what do you think you're doing?! Let me go, I have to get in there and stop the other champions from taking the portkey!" She raged at him, trying to shove him away but Draco just held onto her tighter, gritting his teeth as he pulled her back into the tent and held her securely in place.

"Potter, don't be _stupid! _Those Death Eaters are only after _you! _Who cares about the others—"

"_I _do! Cedric's in there, I have to stop him!" She screamed and shoved hard against him, causing Draco to curse as he stumbled backwards at the surprising strength of her shove. "If what you say is true and that portkey was for me, I have to make sure the others don't take it in my place—"

"Do you not understand what I'm trying to _tell _you here, Potter?!" Draco exploded, and this time, his eyes were blazing in anger as he gripped onto her shoulders again and shook her harder. "They're after you – they're _all after you! _If you go into that maze, there's no guarantee that—_Harry?! HARRY_!"

The rest of Draco's furious warnings barely registered in Harry's mind now, and she doubted that she could have heard him even if she wanted to, because the instant Draco's grip had loosened around her arm, Harry took that opportunity to twist herself free. She ran out of the tent immediately, the deafening screams and cheers of the audience around them drowning out the rest of Draco's screams at her and allowing the Gryffindor to run faster as she headed straight for maze's entrance.

* * *

_Shit! Shit, shit, shit! _Draco's eyes had gone as wide as saucers, and he shoved through the large crowd of students gathered near the top of the Quidditch stands _That reckless, idiotic girl, what the hell does she think she's doing?! She's going to get herself killed with this! _He raged to himself in disbelief as he stood up again, using his pair of binoculars to catch a glimpse of what was happening inside the maze.

By now, it appeared as though Harry and Cedric were the only ones who had managed to work their way through the maze close enough to the center. The other two – Viktor Krum and Fleur Delacour – were already out when they had sent out red sparks into the air. Draco strongly suspected that Krum had been taken out for another reason though, and if the dark look in the Quidditch athlete's eyes when he was pulled out of the maze was anything to go by, Draco suspected that Krum had been bewitched.

The crowd wasn't really paying much attention to Krum or Fleur at that point, and a rush of tense silence fell over the audience as everyone watched both Hogwarts champions – Cedric Diggory and Harriet Potter –racing desperately for the silver TriWizard cup situated at the very center of the maze. With bated breath, Draco's eyes widened, and his jaw hung open in stunned horror when sometime, in the middle of running, Harry inadvertently _tripped _over a hole on the crowd, causing the Gryffindor champion to cry out as she stumbled onto the floor. To everyone's shock, instead of rushing to help Harry as they thought he would, Cedric ran on – oblivious to the gasps coming from the Quidditch stands – but when he passed Harry on the ground, the Gryffindor had reached out, grasping one of Cedric's ankles and forcing the Hufflepuff to curse out as he stumbled to the ground beside her.

_"FOUL PLAY! POTTER, YOU DIRTY CHEATER! HOW COULD YOU DO THAT TO CEDRIC?!" _A Hufflepuff beside Draco had screamed out, but the Slytherin was oblivious to anything else now as he pushed past the Hufflepuff who had spoken and watched on, his grip tightening around his binoculars.

Draco watched as Harriet gasped out in pain but stood back up, struggling to run as fast as she could towards the TriWizard cup just as Cedric was beginning to catch up behind her. When they reached the end of the maze, however, and both of them had reached out to grab the TriWizard Cup at the same time, Harriet shocked the audience yet again when she had whirled around at the very last minute, raised her wand and _blasted _Cedric with a powerful knockback spell – causing Cedric to collapse into an stunned heap on the ground. The reaction of the audience was _horrifying - _the entire stand filled with Hufflepuff supporters began screaming angrily and blasting off a series of very unflattering remarks.

Then, just as Cedric was scrambling back up, Harry had rushed forward again, and without thinking, the Gryffindor closed her eyes and snatched the gleaming TriWizard Cup up from its pedestal.

Two seconds later, the new TriWizard Champion _vanished_ into thin air - and everyone erupted into a state of panic and uproar.

* * *

"_JAMES!"_

Sirius' voice was frantic as he ran into James in the middle of one of Hogwarts corridors, both men struggling to hear each other amidst the loud screams of the students running around them. "I've searched _everywhere, _I can't find her!" He croaked out to the Minister, swallowing the lump in his throat when he saw the way James' face had paled at his words and he turned to glance at Peter beside him.

"_SEND AN OWL TO THE MINISTRY_! _I WANT AN ENTIRE TEAM OF AURORS HERE IN LESS THAN TEN MINUTES! DO IT NOW! _He raged out impatiently, oblivious to the hesitant expression on Peter's face when it had looked as though he was going to say something else. Once Peter had left, James directed his attention to Sirius again and clenched his fists, glancing furiously at his best friend.

"_SEAL THE GROUNDS! I DON'T WANT A SOUL, DEAD OR ALIVE, GETTING OUT OF HOGWARTS BEFORE I FIND HER! DO YOU HEAR ME?! UNTIL MY DAUGHTER IS FOUND–"_ James' voice broke in the middle of his sentence, and the anger in his voice was extinguished by the scared trembling of his voice.

"–_NO ONE WILL LEAVE!_" He shouted, trying to hide the fact that his hands were trembling.

With a similar look of fear on his face, Sirius nodded slowly at his words, careful enough not to say anything else as he turned around and ran back towards the outside of the castle. As he did this, James stiffened and stared blankly at his retreating back, trying to blink away the dozens of horrible scenarios that were plaguing him about what happened or why Harry had just completely disappeared.

He had been watching from up in the stands during the Third Task that night, and up until the final minutes of the tournament, James had been so _sure _that Harry was going to win. That is, until she had disappeared after taking the TriWizard Cup and Cedric had run out of the maze screaming for help, and about how Harry had just disappeared in front of his eyes. The entire crowd erupted into chaos.

From then, Remus had rushed back to the Ministry of Magic to search for any anomalies in the tournament, while James and Sirius had both rushed off and began searching the grounds for Harry. They hadn't been successful, and well after an hour, James still had _no _idea where his daughter was.

He had felt more helpless and terrified in his entire life.

* * *

"Bones of the father…Unwillingly given…"

_No please. _Harry clenched her eyes shut as she tried to block out the horrifying image in front of her – that of Barty Crouch Jr., hovering over a large, bubbling cauldron. They were in the middle of a large, deserted graveyard – Harry couldn't tell where – and the minute she was teleported there by the portkey, Crouch had been waiting for her and had tied her to a stone statue hovering near the cauldron.

"Flesh of the servant…Willingly sacrificed."

Harry opened her eyes and screamed as she witnessed Crouch taking a dagger to his own hand, cutting off the pale limb, dropping it right into the cauldron. The hand dropped into the bubbling liquid with a loud, sickening splash. When Harry looked up at Crouch's expression again, she gaped at him when she saw that he had barely flinched from the pain – in fact, he was even smiling like a madman.

"Blood of the enemy…Forcibly taken."

He held the dagger to Harry's forearm and stabbed right into her skin, causing the Gryffindor to scream out in pain again before Crouch turned back to the cauldron and speckled her blood inside.

"The Dark Lord shall rise again…" Crouch took a careful step back, his smile growing even wider as he watched the cauldron beginning to bubble before it burst into tall, green flames. Harry paled as she watched this, her eyes wide as she noticed a distinctly human shape beginning to form inside the flames above the cauldron. Finally, when the figure had finally solidified and stepped out of the flames, levitating itself onto the ground, she froze in horror – and all the blood came rushing out of her face.

_No…It can't be…_Her heart pounded rapidly as she watched the disgusting, half-snake, half-man like creature stand up from where it was kneeling on the ground and walk up slowly to Barty Crouch Jr.

"My wand…" The creature hissed softly at Crouch its pupils dilating slightly and allowing Harry to see that instead of the usual color, the creature's eyes were bright, blood red –speckled with black. Its features were hideous – where there would have been a nose in the middle of his face, there were two tiny slits instead as nostrils, and his features were deformed and scaly, similar to that of an actual snake.

"_Voldemort_." She whispered to herself, her blood going as cold as death.

"M–my Lord…" Barty Crouch stammered in reverence for a few seconds before he nearly stumbled over his own robes as he bent down low, offering up in his palm a long, beautiful wand. Sneering slowly to himself, Voldemort held the wand up to the light, inspecting it in idle admiration.

"Now…Hold out your arm, Barty." He whispered slowly, prompting Crouch to heave a high-pitched, elated sigh as he held out his bleeding stump of an arm and began to stammer incoherently.

"Master…Thank you so much! Th–thank you–"

"The _other _arm, you fool!" Voldemort hissed at him, his eyes flashing a dangerous shade of scarlet when Crouch hastily pulled his bloodied arm away and held out his other, unharmed one. Snatching the limb closer, Voldemort raised his wand and touched it directly to the Dark Mark etched onto the pale skin of Barty Crouch's arm. The mark blackened immediately, marring against Crouch's skin and causing the Death Eater to hiss in pain as the sensation seemed to burn against his flesh.

As soon as Voldemort had pulled his wand away, Crouch clutched at his bloodied arm again and stumbled to the ground in pain, wincing as his blood began to seep out onto the ground. Voldemort ignored him, however, and stood off quietly to the side, watching with narrowed eyes as blurs of black mist began appearing out of nowhere and flying all around him, enclosing the area in a tightly-knit circle.

* * *

_ I'd better get to Moody's office. Maybe he's seen her! _James thought panickedly to himself as he turned around and resumed his search around the castle, ignoring the dozens of shocked eyes that turned his way when they came upon the sight of the Minister running frantically around the school.

As he turned a sharp corner and James found himself nearly crashing into the suit of armor at the end of the hall, he grimaced, feeling his heart beginning to pound rapidly in his chest. Forcing himself to continue, he began to run even faster, desperately reciting a silent prayer inside his head.

Fortunately, he managed to reach Moody's office just as Dumbledore and Severus Snape were on the way out, and in his blinding anger, he didn't even give Snape enough time to react before he sneered and rounded on him, grabbing the other man by his robes and slamming him against the wall.

"_YOU–" _James bared his teeth and growled at Snape's stunned expression, raising his wand and pointing it at the slightly smaller man. "–_YOU DEATH EATER, WHERE THE FUCK IS MY DAUGHTER?!"_

_"JAMES!" _Dumbledore sounded angry as he walked towards them and yanked James aside, stepping in between both men to keep them apart. "This is _no _time to be pointing fingers! Harry is–"

"–_GONE!" _James exploded at him again, his eyes flashing dangerously as he riveted them to Snape's sneer again and narrowed his eyes. "And I am more than _certain _that wherever she is, _this _bastard knows! Now step aside, Albus before I–" He stopped when Dumbledore's eyes narrowed and the Headmaster suddenly raised his wand, pointing it directly at James and keeping him at a distance.

"Stop it,Minister._" _His eyes flicked back and forth between the two formal rivals in warning, waiting until James had calmed back down from his tirade before he spoke again. "There is no advantage in us pointing fingers at one another. What's important right now is that we find Harry–"

James ignored Dumbledore's words and pushed past him, practically stumbling into Moody's office. He paled in shock when he caught sight of the former Auror seated on one of the chairs – looking bruised, beaten, and nearly starved as he struggled to remain conscious. Behind him, James noticed that a large trunk was thrown open and when he peered inside, he saw that it wasn't actually a trunk, but instead, it led down to a large, hidden chamber that was large enough for a human prisoner.

_What the hell is going on in here?! _

His eyes widened as he turned around and addressed Dumbledore in outrage. "_WHAT THE FUCK IS GOING ON AROUND HERE?!" _James demanded.

"_WHY DOES MY ONE OF MY BEST AURORS LOOK LIKE HE WAS A STARVED PRISONER?! WHAT THE FUCK HAS BEEN GOING AROUND IN THIS SCHOOL, DUMBLEDORE?! TELL ME!" _He raged.

Dumbledore raised a hand to his temple as he stepped back inside. Turning around, he gestured briefly to Snape behind him, shaking his head at the Potions Master and giving him a pointed look.

"Severus…I will be fine. You know where you're needed right now. Go." He nodded at the Slytherin, and in silent agreement, Severus scowled but obliged, whirling around and exiting the room. As soon as Severus was gone, James had rounded on Dumbledore again and exploded at him in fury.

"Explain yourself, Albus!" James snapped, his eyes flashing dangerously.

The Headmaster looked grim as he stared back at him, his eyes moving back slowly to gaze at Alastor Moody in silence.

"Minister…That the culprit we should be looking for…is _Barty Crouch Junior."_

* * *

Harry watched everything happening around her in silence, and her face began to pale in terror. From where she was still tied tightly onto the tall, stone statue behind her, she realized that she was caught _right _in the middle of it all. Evidently, Voldemort seemed to be thinking the same thing because he was sneering when the Death Eaters were all finally gathered around them – all of which were covered in dark cloaks and a white, skull mask. With narrowed eyes, he addressed them all slowly.

"Welcome, my friends…" He stepped towards the kneeling group slowly, his eyes roving slowly over each of their masked faces. "Thirteen years it's been…And yet, here you stand before me…As though it were only yesterday. I confess myself to be rather…_disappointed._ Not one of you tried to find me._" _Voldemort's eyes flashed as he slashed at all of the Death Eater's faces one by one, removing their masks and revealing their pale, terrified faces as they fell to the ground and knelt down in submission.

"Not even you…_Lucius._" Voldemort's eyes narrowed dangerously as he waved his wand to the side, revealing Lucius Malfoy's pale, stricken face as the Malfoy Patriarch was forced to bow even lower.

"My lord–" For the _briefest _second, Harriet thought she caught Lucius' gaze flicking meaningfully over to her as though in signal – but even before she could figure out what it meant, he was looking up at Voldemort again and bowing. "–Had I _detected _any signs or even a whisper of your whereabouts–"

"There were signs, my friend. And more than whispers. Had it not been for your _fear _of your beloved Ministry of Magic and that despicable mudblood-lover, James Potter, my more…_loyal _followers would have helped me to return sooner." Voldemort hissed back, cutting through Lucius' shaky protests.

"_I _returned. _I helped _our Master." Barty Crouch Jr. suddenly interrupted them, smiling maniacally from where he was still bleeding profusely on the ground. Voldemort momentarily tore his gaze away from Lucius and regarded the bleeding man on the ground in slight irritation, as though momentarily considering to himself whether or not he deserved to be acknowledged for his actions.

Nevertheless, Voldemort seemed to relent as he allowed a small sneer and raised his wand, pointing it directly at Crouch's cowering frame. "You _have _proven yourself useful these past few months, Barty…And you even killed your beloved father for me. Now _that _is the mark of true loyalty. Perhaps I shall have use for more servants like you after all." He commented idly, smirking as he waved his wand, fashioning a strong, solid hand made out of silver and magically fastening it to Crouch's bleeding stump.

Crouch stood up immediately, his eyes shining brightly and growing wide as he stared up at his new, silver hand with a look of pure adoration in his features. "Th–thank you, master…Thank you–"

There was no question about it this time – Harry _definitely _caught the quick, urgent look that Lucius Malfoy suddenly sent her from where he was standing behind Voldemort. While the Dark Lord was distracted with his amusement at Crouch's groveling, Lucius' eyes had sharpened and he flicked his gaze very quickly to a small, shiny object a few feet away from the foot of the statue Harry was tied to.

Following his gaze, Harriet's eyes widened when she saw the TriWizard cup lying on the ground, a few feet away from where she was. Drawing her gaze back up, she met Lucius' narrowed eyes again. Before she could react, however, Voldemort turned around and addressed her for the first time.

"Harry…I'd almost forgotten you were here! Standing on the bones of my father. I'd introduce you, but word has it that you're almost as famous as I am, these days." His eyes glowed a bright, menacing red as he walked towards her, his snake-like features twisting into an ugly, mocking sneer.

Voldemort turned around and addressed the Death Eaters behind him, urging them all to stand back up.

"The girl…who lived." He cackled loudly and turned to face her, leaning in close enough to Harry so that his wand was pressed against her throat. "How lies have fed your legend, Harry…Shall I reveal what really happened that night? Shall I divulge how I truly lost my powers?" He pressed his wand harder against her throat, causing Harry to cringe in pain as she gritted her teeth and turned away.

"Go to _hell!" _She ground out, trying to move away but Voldemort just laughed harshly at her words and continued, turning his attention to the Death Eaters watching them.

"It was _love._" He mocked, earning a few laughs from his followers. "You see…When dear sweet Lily Potter gave her life for her only daughter, she provided the ultimate protection. I could not touch her…" Voldemort shook his head, and sneered at Harry again. "It was old magic…Something I should have foreseen. But no matter, no matter. Things have changed." He lowered his wand and raised his hand above her, his expression changing swiftly into a wide, sadistic grin as he slowly lowered his pale finger against the jagged scar on her head.

"I can touch you now!" He pressed a single fingertip against her forehead and Harriet screamed, her eyes slamming shut almost instantly when she felt the agonizing, searing pain of her scar. Still screaming, she tried to twist and turn a few times, tears streaming down her cheeks as her scar continued to burn mercilessly at Voldemort's nearness until she could no longer think straight at all.

When it was over and Voldemort finally pulled his hand away, the burning of her scar stopped instantly and Harry opened her eyes, blinking rapidly to clear her tears away. Around her, she could hear most of the Death Eaters laughing and jeering at her a few times but she couldn't make out their faces.

"Pick up your wand, Potter!" Voldemort's enraged snap suddenly jerked Harry out of her pain-induced state. He released her from where she was bound to the statue with a single wave of his wand. "I said pick it up, get up! Get up!" He waited impatiently as Harry struggled to her feet.

"You've been taught how to duel, I presume, yes? First we bow to each other." He sneered at her, raising his eyebrows expectantly when Harry just glared quietly at him. "Come now, little Harry… The niceties must be observed. Your father wouldn't want you to forget your family upbringing now, would he? Be polite, Harry…I said _bow!" _He pointed his wand at her, and Harry struggled as she felt the force of his Imperius Curse immediately, forcing her down to bow low at her waist against her will.

_No…Get up! Get up! _She screamed at herself, struggling desperately to break free from the spell.

Barty Crouch Jr. stood up and cackled loudly from where he watching the scene play out, his eyes gleaming in amusement as Harry struggled back up when she was released from the Imperius Curse. Before she managed to get up, however, Voldemort raised his wand over her again – but this time, the curse he brought down was much worse than the Imperius Curse, and Harry's eyes widened in dread.

_"CRUCIO!" _

She began screaming and writhing in pain against the ground, oblivious to anything but the pain that was threatening to rip apart every single cell in her body. When it was over and Harry still lay twitching and lifeless on the ground, she blinked up tearfully at Voldemort's sneering face again.

"Attagirl, Harry…Your filthy mudblood mother would be so proud of you right now." His lips twitched when he noticed the way Harry's eyes had flashed dangerously at the insult. "Shall I tell you how she died that night, Harry? How much she begged me for her life? And for yours?" He taunted.

_No…Don't listen…Mom died bravely for you…She never begged for her life. _Harry thought to herself, her eyes blurring with tears.

"Expelliarmus_!" _Harry croaked out weakly as she raised her wand but Voldemort deflected it easily with a single wave of his own wand, causing her spell to dissipate even before it made contact. The Death Eaters burst out laughing at this, but Harry just closed her eyes and tried to block them out.

"I'm going to kill you, Harry Potter…And after tonight, no one will ever again question my powers." Voldemort whispered softly, his cold, taunting words echoing around the quiet graveyard. "And after tonight…if they speak of you…They'll speak only of how you begged for death…And I, being a merciful lord…obliged." He continued, walking right up to her and standing over her pale, bruised form.

_No…I don't want to die here tonight…I can't. Think! What am I supposed to do?! _Harry turned her head slowly to the side, squinting through her tears as she tried to look around. To her surprise, the minute she had turned her head to the side, she saw Lucius' sharp gray eyes on her instantly, and this time, she noticed the way the Malfoy Patriarch was discreetly flicking his gaze meaningfully towards the TriWizard Cup lying a few feet away from where he was standing. When Harry finally got the full meaning of what he was trying to do, she stiffened in realization, and her eyes flew back to the cup.

* * *

No one spoke for a long time after Dumbledore had recounted the whole sordid tale to both James and Peter – how it had been Barty Jr., Crouch's Death Eater son, who had been posing as Alastor Moody the entire time he had been at Hogwarts – and it had been _him _who had put Harry's name in the Goblet. His intention had been ingenious – he was to make sure that Harry was able to win her way through the TriWizard Tournament so that she could take the Winning Cup in the middle of the maze.

Even as Dumbledore had explained the entire situation to him, all James could really think about now was the fact that his little girl was out there – Merlin could only tell where she was – and he had absolutely _no _idea where that portkey could have taken her or where to start looking for her at all.

"I need you to find my daughter, Albus." James interrupted his discussion tautly, his eyes already beginning to glisten with barely restrained emotion. He swallowed the lump in his throat and spoke again, ignoring the way Peter was trying to hold him back from manhandling the Headmaster.

"Please." James whispered quietly, and his hands were shaking as he pulled himself free from Peter's grip and walked up to Dumbledore again, grabbing the older man by his robes and shaking him.

"I need you to understand…My little girl is out there…_Alone…_And I haven't the _faintest _idea where to start looking for her! If _anything _should happen to her….D–dear Merlin, if _a–anything–_" James' voice broke, and he had to look away so they wouldn't see his expression. "–I will hold _you, _Dumbledore, _and _Hogwarts responsible for ever having allowed Harry to join the tournament in the first place–"

"_James! _James, are you in here?!" Sirius' urgent voice suddenly cut through James' tirade as the Head Auror suddenly rushed into the office, his face pale and a shocked expression in his features. He was holding a small piece of parchment in his hand that he handed to James immediately, and when James shakily held the parchment up to the light, Sirius cleared his throat and began to speak loudly.

"We found Barty Crouch Sr…He was deep in the Forbidden Forest for about five hours now." Sirius paused when James seemed to whiten at the words written on the parchment he was holding.

"Well, what the hell are you waiting for?! Bring him in for questioning!" Peter snapped at him, glaring at him as though it was the most obvious thing in the world, but Sirius just stared blankly at him.

"He's _dead, _Pettigrew." Sirius replied bluntly, causing Dumbledore to stiffen and Peter to gape at him in shock. Without waiting for the other two to respond, he turned to James again and continued.

"We were able to retrieve that…" He pointed to the parchment in James' shaking hand. "It's a letter from his son, Barty Crouch Jr. In fact, it's addressed to _us…_the Ministry of Magic. Telling us that he has _always _been alive, hidden in the basement of his father's mansion. His mother traded places with him when he was sentenced, and it was _her _polyjuiced body that they buried when they had presumed that he had died in Azkaban." He explained, causing Peter to snap back angrily at him with a scoff.

"Preposterous! Crouch's only son died in Azkaban a few years ago! That was the reason Crouch's wife committed suicide, we all know this! This letter is obviously a very creative lie!" Peter protested.

"Oh yeah?! Well how _else _would you explain everything that's happened lately, you stupid rat?!" Sirius challenged him, his eyes narrowing at the other man in suspicion. "Besides, I wasn't finished!" He pointed to the parchment again and went on. "The letter goes on to say that Barty Crouch Jr. was fully responsible for everything strange that was happening this year – the muggle murders, Harry's name being chosen by the Goblet of Fire…_everything! _And do you know what that bastard planned to do?"

When Peter looked as though he was going to interrupt him again, Sirius continued anyway.

"That man…Barty Crouch Jr… He meant to bring the Dark Lord back to life…_tonight." _

Dumbledore stared at him, his eyes narrowed slowly as he seemed to get lost in his own deep thoughts but Peter had paled in horror, his eyes growing wide and a panicked curse escaping his lips.

"That is _preposterous_, Black! That is absolutely _ridiculous!_" He screamed back at the Head Auror, causing Sirius to flick his glare back at him in impatience. Ignoring Sirius' expression, Peter stalked forward, snatching the parchment out of James' hands and waving it around. "Alright! Let's say Barty's son _is alive! _Fine then, I believe that! But what does Barty's murder prove other than _one _thing?!" He turned to James and smiled widely in triumph when James appeared to be listening intently to him.

"Barty has _always _been unstable – especially after he lost his wife. Obviously, he could have allowed his son to be loose from time to time…and, in the unfortunate mess of things, what happened was obviously that his son just…_broke free_ and went on a rampage! It's obvious he's responsible for all those muggle disappearances now, it makes sense! He was a former Death Eater, was he not?!" He turned to James, his smile widening more when James seemed to be considering what he was saying.

"And now, he's trying to scare us all into thinking that the Dark Lord is alive when, in truth, everything that's been happening lately – including Harry's disappearance now – is Barty Jr.'s handiwork! He's the real criminal here! _He _kidnapped our Harriet!" Peter told them, but even as James seemed to nod absentmindedly at what he was saying, Sirius and Dumbledore didn't look too convinced.

"I'm not so sure I'm inclined to believe that everything is quite that simple, Peter–" Dumbledore was beginning to say, but before he could manage to explain himself, they were interrupted when female Auror suddenly ran into the office, her expression relieved but urgent as she addressed James.

"They've found her, Minister! She's back in the middle of the maze–"

"James–" Peter tried to grasp James by the arm but he barely heard him as he immediately jerked away and bolted out of the office, running frantically as fast as he could back towards the maze.

* * *

Draco didn't know how long he had been running, nor did he know how many Blast-Ended Skrewts or Boggarts he had taken out by now when he finally managed to reach the center of the maze. Running up to exactly where Harry had taken the portkey from the pedestal, he collapsed onto his knees, fighting to catch his breath as he glanced around the area for any clues to Harry's whereabouts.

To his frustration, he came across _nothing _that could have given him any clues at all, and it anything, that just made Draco feel even more frustrated with himself when he realized that he could have prevented all of this if he had managed to prevent Harry from entering the maze in the first place.

_If only she didn't care about that damn Hufflepuff so much! _Draco thought angrily, thinking back on how Cedric Diggory ran of the maze, screaming to the Minister that Harriet had disappeared. It had accomplished _nothing _but make everyone else watching panic even more, and pretty soon, the entire school was running towards the castle, creating a stampede that hurt a few students in the process.

_ There's nothing here! I'm wasting my time; I should get back inside and look for her! _Draco seethed to himself, and he was just about to turn around again to head back to the castle when a brief, crashing noise suddenly startled him from behind, causing him to turn around quickly in confusion.

_ "Harry?!"_

His voice went hoarse– but whether it was from shock, relief, dismay, or a mixture of all three, Draco wasn't exactly sure. As soon as it registered to him that he still gaping a few feet away at a bruised and bloodied Harry Potter twitching on the ground, Draco shook his head and rushed to her instantly.

"Harry, are you–" Draco was cut off in the middle of his concerns when Harry had suddenly snatched at his arm when he approached her, causing Draco to jerk away in shock and try to pull away.

"Merlin, Harry! What are you doing–"

"He's _back!_" Harriet's voice broke out into a sob as she grasped at his arm again and pulled him closer, her fingers tightening around his wrist as she looked up and met his wide eyes. "Voldemort's _back! _D–Draco, he's…He was there, I _saw _him! H–he was…Barty Crouch's son was th–there, he was–" Her voice broke again and she began sobbing uncontrollably as she latched tightly onto his arm again.

"I couldn't stay there, I couldn't…Th–they would have killed me! So I ran, and I ran and he tried to kill me but I–" The rest of her words ended up into a pathetic hiccup before her sobs overcame her again, and she collapsed weakly against him, burying her face into his chest and crying uncontrollably.

Reluctantly, he wrapped his arms around her and allowed her to cry against him as he sat on the ground, his hand going to her hair. "I just….Potter, I–" Draco struggled for something to say but Harry just latched onto him tighter, trembling as incoherent words continued to pour out of her mouth.

"H–he's back…Voldemort's back…H–he was there…He was _there, _Draco…He was _there! _I saw–"

His eyes turned frantic as he suddenly clutched at her shoulders and pulled away from her, holding her at arm's length from him and meeting her tear-stained eyes. "Was my father there?" He asked, but when Harry just blinked back tearfully at him, Draco's resolve broke and he asked her again.

"Was my father there?! Damn it, _answer me, _Harry! Was my father there?! I want to know–" His eyes narrowed and he almost jostled the Gryffindor to get her to answer but before he could, a hand had suddenly shot out of nowhere and seized Harry by her arm, yanking the Gryffindor away from him.

_"_Hey, let go of her_–" _Draco made a move to protest at the intrusion but when he turned around, his eyes suddenly widened when he realized that about five wands were pointed right at him from all different directions of the maze clearing. Slowly, with wide, cautious eyes, Draco raised both of his hands up in surrender and lifted his gaze back up, taking note of the team of Aurors circled around him.

"You have got this situation all wrong." Draco began to speak, barely able to hide the irritation in his voice as he looked up again and watched as the male Auror in front of him – the one who had seized Harry – was shielding the Gryffindor behind him as though protecting her from Draco.

"_THERE! YOU SEE, JAMES?! HE'S THE CULPRIT! YOU! STAY WHERE YOU ARE AND DON'T MOVE!" _

Draco recognized the shrill, familiar voice that had spoken instantly, and he stiffened as he looked up, watching as Peter Pettigrew and James Potter ran out into the maze clearing. Sirius Black and Albus Dumbledore ran in after them, along with another horde of Aurors that circled around Draco.

"_SEIZE HIM! SEIZE THAT BOY AT ONCE–"_ Pettigrew began screaming to the Aurors but James was no longer listening as he headed straight for Harry, pulling the young Gryffindor into his arms. As soon as he did this, however, Draco was shocked when instead of going to her father, Harry's initial reaction was to scream and run back towards Draco instead, burying her sobbing face against his chest.

"_NO! He's back! Voldemort's back! H–he's back, I saw him!" _She sobbed, clutching tighter onto Draco and inadvertently causing the Slytherin to wince when he felt her nails clawing at his neck.

"_He's back! V–Voldemort, he's alive! I saw him! I saw him!" _Harriet screamed at them again before she broke down and began sobbing hysterically in Draco's arms. By then, Sirius had rushed over to them as well and tried to help James pry Harry off of Draco but she struggled mindlessly against them.

"She's _crazy! _She's gone crazy, James! It's obvious – _that _boy has addled her brain somehow!" Peter screeched in disbelief, breaking through Harry's screams and pointing frantically at Draco. "Take her to the psychiatric ward in the Ministry, we need to have her examined right away!" He demanded.

"H–Harry…" James swallowed painfully and raised a trembling hand, stroking her tangled hair away from her face. "You're not making sense, sweetheart….Please calm down. There is _no _Voldemort–"

"_D–Draco, _you believe me right?!" Harry cut off the rest of her father's shaky whispers and turned wide, teary green eyes to Draco again. "He's back, I _saw _him come back! B–bones of the father, unwillingly given–f–flesh of the servant, willingly s–sacrificed–" Harry's voice broke into a hiccup, and her eyes were crazed with fear when she began rambling that even Draco began to stare at her in worry.

"What the hell is going on?!" Sirius hissed at Draco when he finally managed to pry Harry off him. "She's looks scared half to death, she's not even making sense! What happened?!" He demanded.

"I don't know! I _found _her like this–" Draco tried to protest, but James interrupted him.

"Harry, please stop it, sweetheart…Shh…Love, it's okay…I've got you…You're safe now…" The Minister was visibly pale and shaking as he tried to cradle Harry to his chest. It took a few more moments of wrestling with her before he got her off, but when he did, and he and Sirius finally managed to lift her off the ground and carry her back towards the castle, Peter turned a menacing glare to Draco.

"_YOU! _Boy!What have you done to her?!" He accused furiously, instantly causing Draco's attention to snap back to him in outrage when he saw the flurry of Auror wands still pointed right at him. "Harry is obviously delusional! Did you even _hear _what she said?! She's gone mental – it's obvious that this boy has done something! She can't even tell his lies from the truth!" He pointed frantically at Draco.

"You lying son of a _bitch._" Draco ground out in between gritted teeth, his hand digging into the pocket of his robes and searching for his wand. "You and I _both _know I did nothing here. If you're just looking for another person to point this on–"

"Take him in for questioning! _Now!" _Peter yelled to the Aurors behind him, sneering viciously when Draco's eyes widened in panic and he began struggling against the Aurors who grabbed him.

"Are you _mental?! _Didn't you hear what she just said, you ignorant fool?! The Dark Lord is _alive!" _Draco shouted angrily, but his words accomplished nothing but cause Peter to give him a mocking smile.

"Really? You'd like _that_, wouldn't you, _Death Eater?_" He taunted viciously, his eyes gleaming as he watched Draco struggling with the Aurors again as they began to drag him back to the school castle.

"Oh yeah?! Well then how do you explain how _Crouch _disappeared–"

"Barty Crouch Sr. is _dead, _Mister Malfoy. His murder proves _nothing _but the fact that he was hiding his Death Eater son all along, and now the boy is loose and going on a murder rampage." Peter cut him off calmly, not even batting an eyelash when Draco paled at his words and struggled again.

"B–but, his _son–"_

"—is merely an escaped convict who made an attempt to kidnap and kill the Minister's daughter. We will apprehend him as soon as possible." Peter interrupted him again, shaking his head in disbelief.

"And what if you're wrong?! What if the Dark Lord is _alive_?! And you're all too blind to see it–" Draco cursed in pain when one of the Aurors growled in impatience and kicked him from behind, causing him to fall to his knees.

With his arms crossed, Peter watched this all with a bland expression on his face – and hearing Draco's words, his only reaction was to sneer at him again and shake his head. "Do you take me for a fool, Mister Malfoy? _That _is obviously a lie – a lie that _you _must have perpetuated into the Minister's daughter's head somehow." He stepped up to the Slytherin and bent down slightly so that he could peer into Draco's angry, defiant expression. "And I'll _not _stand by and let you scare the Minister…_or the _Wizarding World with your meaningless lies! The Dark Lord is _dead, _Malfoy! See that you get that!"

Rising back up to his feet, he didn't bother listening to the rest of Draco's protests before he turned to one of the officials behind him, giving him a quick nod and an impatient gesture of his hand. "Carrow." He sneered when he noticed the way Draco's face had paled at the name.

"I want you to contact my dear good friend, Dolores Umbridge." Peter's lips twitched as he turned to Draco again, his smile widening when he saw Draco's ashen face. "See that Mister Malfoy is interrogated specifically by _her _for this case. I believe she'll have a lot of questions for him. Take him in."

* * *

**A/N: **Awww…. I _hate _ending this chapter here, especially on Christmas. But I swear, if this chapter got any longer, it'd be a novel. Hahaha. Hope the pacing of this chapter wasn't too fast for you guys though. I would have wanted to compress it further, but then the story might have gotten too confusing if I did.

**Next Chapter: **The summer before Harry's fifth year – a mixture of family trouble, boy troubles, a new important character, and last but not least, Dolores Umbridge. What a recipe for disaster. (^_~)

**DON'T FORGET TO REVIEW! A VERY MERRY CHRISTMAS AND HAPPY HOLIDAYS TO YOU ALL! :D**


	10. Flowers, Autumn, and Birthdays

**Harriet Potter and the Minister of Magic **

**Disclaimer:** I don't own Harry Potter or any of the characters you recognize from the HP books in this story. All I own is the plot. Everything else belongs to JK Rowling.

**Pairings**: DM/femHP (eventual). CD/femHP. RW/HG. BZ/GW. JP/LP (past). SS/LP (one-sided).

**Warnings:** Spoilers from canon (Books 4 to 7). Occasional time jumps from chapter to chapter. Mature content later on.

**Notes: **Hopefully, this chapter is a lot lighter and easier to read than the last one. To be honest, I actually surprised myself with the direction this took. I guess that goes to show that a story really does take on a life of its own, ne? Enjoy the chapter everyone! ^_^

* * *

**Chapter 10 – Flowers, Autumn, and Birthdays**

"–well, I was just thought that we'd try it out for a few months, sweetie...I mean, I practically spend all my time in your house nowadays anyway. What difference would it really make?" Hadriana's voice was sickeningly sweet as she reached across the table and stabbed her fork into James' plate.

"Besides, would moving in together really be such a big deal to you? You and I are both so busy that we're hardly at home anyway. It would just be easier for us to see each other in the evenings." She cooed further, smiling at him again before she offered him a bite of the pasta on her fork. "Sweetie?"

Blinking up from the thick stack of papers in his hand, James peered back at her over his reading glasses and distractedly took a bite before he shook his head at her and managed an apologetic smile. "I'm sorry; I must have lost you for a second, Hadriana. What were you saying?" He asked again.

Rolling her eyes at him, Hadriana pretended to give him a discontented pout as she reached over again, using one of the table napkins to wipe an imaginary smudge off his jaw. "I was _saying, _sweetheart, that we should start thinking about moving in together soon. You definitely need a female taking care of you around the house." She teased him playfully, but James just seemed to frown at her.

"You don't have to do house work, Hadriana. I have house elves for that—"

"I didn't mean house work, darling. I just meant…Well, you need a woman's constant presence in your life." She teased, batting her eyelashes at him again and causing the frown on his face to deepen.

"Hadriana, I just don't think now is a good time to move in together…" James began.

"Well, _I _for one, think it's a great idea." Peter suddenly cut him from where he was seated across the couple from the other end of the small table. "Having Hadriana around the house and helping the elves managing the pig sty that _both _you and Harry make. I swear to Merlin." He gave James a pointed smirk after he said this, earning himself an irritated glare from the Minister and a laugh from Hadriana.

"I reckon a good _female touch _around the manor ought to brighten things up a bit." He added, but when Hadriana smiled brightly at him and turned to James again, the Minister scowled at them.

"I don't know… I think moving in together would be too big a step. I just don't think I'm ready for it yet. I need to think about it." James paused again, letting his eyes travel around the interior of the small, tea café. Outside, along the streets of Diagon Alley, he could see a few reporters and journalists skulking around a few dark corners and trying to peer in at them from the café's large, glass windows.

"To be frank with you, I just don't now if I'm ready for something that serious, Hadriana. I told you that." James explained reluctantly, and he was careful not to let any expression on his face show when Hadriana just blinked at him, an indignant scowl beginning to form on her perfectly made-up face.

"A–are you saying…That I am nothing but a fling for you, James?!" She suddenly snapped at him, and the minute the anger flared out in her voice, Peter glanced back up at them with an amused grin.

Glancing back up in panic from his papers, James suddenly paled at the indignation in Hadriana's features. He managed a wince as he smiled back weakly at her and shook his head frantically. "No, love…That's not what I meant at all! Besides–" James' eyes darted nervously to glance at Peter across the table, and when Peter just shrugged back at him, he forced out a laugh and spoke to him instead.

"Peter…You said you wanted to meet for a reason. I reckon you _have _an agenda for calling this meeting on such short notice? Wait, where's Harry–" James shot a glance at the window, immediately relaxing when he saw his daughter still standing in front of the broom shop across their restaurant.

"She's fine, Prongs. She's still looking at those broomsticks over there. Now–" Peter paused as he opened his work envelope and laid out a few documents on the table. "–James, about those proceedings you promised me we'd go through. We have to clear up the allegations made by media–"

"Peter." James cut him off with an impatient sigh and shake of his head. "Do we really have to go through this right now? I _told _you that I'd handle the press. Let them write all about what they think happened; I will _not _badger Harry anymore about this issue! She's been through enough already–"

"James, she _has _to realize that what she believes happened during the third task of the tournament was _not _real!" Peter exclaimed in exasperation, and to emphasize his point, he laid down a few more articles published by the Daily Prophet during the last few weeks. "I mean, _look _at these titles, James!" He didn't wait for either James or Hadriana to peer at the newspapers before he began reading.

"'Harriet Potter – Disturbed and Dangerous!_', _'Ministry Blunder Causes Chaos during TriWizard Tournament', 'Daughter of the Minister Goes Insane'…James, we can't let these things go on!" Peter insisted as he laid all the offending articles on the table. Smirking slightly, Hadriana reached over and began reading one of the newspapers – the one with the picture of Harriet screaming on the first page.

James gave him a wan glare as he reached over and picked up one of the newspapers in dismay. "Well then, what do you propose we do about it, Peter? I've already spoken to nearly every reporter and journalist out there. None of them seem to want to stop portraying my daughter as this sort of… _delusional, _troubled child. I mean, it's much easier to hide Harry away from the media _now _since it's the summer…But what are we going to do when school starts? She'll be going back to school in two weeks!"

"_Exactly! _Exactly my point, Prongs! What we need right now, is to entrust Harry's well-being to someone…Someone who is perfectly _capable _of righting Harry's recurring delusions and to help her to realize that there is _no _dark lord out there who wants to hurt her." At his words, James couldn't help but raise his eyebrows curiously at him. "Most importantly–" Peter paused, looking intently at James before he continued. "We need someone who can look after her even while she's at school." He added further.

"Someone who can make sure that Harry doesn't hang around the likes of Draco Malfoy, Severus Snape, or Albus Dumbledore again." Hadriana added, drawing both men's attention back to her.

"_Exactly, _Hadriana!" Peter nodded approvingly at her, before turning back to James and giving the surprised Minister a pointed look. "We need someone who can protect your daughter all the time–"

"Albus Dumbledore?" James frowned, shaking his head and looking at Peter and Hadriana in question. "How is Dumbledore a bad influence on Harry? He's the Headmaster of Hogwarts. Surely–"

"We can't trust him, James." Peter cut him off bluntly, his eyes glinting maliciously. "When Harry first came out with the claim that the dark lord was alive, that old coot Dumbledore actually wanted to believe her. He was even _encouraging _her delusions, that crazy old fool. We can't let him near Harry–"

James shook his head at Peter's suggestion, still frowning as he flicked his gaze back over to where Harry was still looking at brooms across their restaurant. "I don't know if I'm comfortable with the idea of sending someone to keep a constant eye on Harry at school all the time, Peter. Not only will she hate me for it, but it's an intrusion of her privacy. I don't want that. Besides, I can just ask Cedric–'"

"Cedric is her _boyfriend, _darling. Not her bodyguard… Even if we _did _ask him, his loyalty would be more to Harry than to us." Hadriana drawled at him, causing the scowl on James' face to deepen.

"Well, I'm _just _not comfortable with the idea. I have two more weeks before school starts, and next week is her birthday. I'll just talk to Harry again and see if I can reason with her–" He began, but sometime in the middle of his sentence, Peter had already scoffed and shook his head pointedly at him.

"You've been trying to talk to that hardheaded daughter of yours the entire _summer, _Prongs. She's not going to change her mind, and the more you talk to her and try to convince her that the dark lord is _dead, _the more she'll grow angrier at you. You know that, as well as I do." Peter told him bluntly.

James glared at him, stubbornly clenching his jaw at the truth in Peter's words.

"Peter, she's _my _daughter. I said I'll talk to her first–"

"Who did you have in mind anyway?" Hadriana suddenly cut him, turning to Peter as she peered over at him while taking a languid sip of her tea. Looking up and meeting her gaze, Peter smirked at her.

"Dolores Umbridge." He answered, and with that, he turned to James and gave the Minister an amused grin. "Dolores will do _anything _as long as I tell her that the _Minister _ordered it. That woman practically _adores _James so much that it's almost amusing to watch." He pointed out, sniggering loudly.

"Shut up, Pettigrew" James snapped at him, causing Peter to grin wider and Hadriana to giggle softly under her breath. Before he could say anything else however, Peter spoke to them again. "Anyway, I've had everything arranged already Minister. I spoke to Dumbledore this morning about a position in Hogwarts, and it turns out that the DADA post is open. I've had Dolores instated as the incoming DADA professor of Hogwarts next year. She can use that position as a way to watch over Harry, _and _she can inform us if there any other things we need to watch out for in Hogwarts." He told him.

James arched a single eyebrow at him. "What other things are there that we need to watch out for in Hogwarts? It's a school, for Merlin's sake. They're children." He told him, but Peter shook his head.

"Minister, I have been receiving reports that some of the students in Hogwarts – to be frank, a few _friends _of your daughter – actually _believe _that the dark lord has returned. We have to make sure that Dolores completely extinguishes that very notion from their minds." He explained with a grim nod.

"And Dumbledore? Has he agreed to all this?" James prodded further.

Peter smiled pointedly at him and nodded "Leave Dumbledore to _me, _James. In any case–" He picked up the documents laid out in front of him again and handed them over to the Minister. "Here are those documents I need signed for me to instigate Dolores into Hogwarts. I'll just need you to sign–"

James turned to Peter, running a hand through his messy black hair. "Look, Peter…I can't–" He paused, fusing his eyebrows together in thought before he spoke again. "–_if _it _truly _comes to that…_if _I truly see that Harry can no longer be convinced of the truth…_Then _I'll sign those papers for you…Okay? But for now…" James bit his lip and looked up; meeting Hadriana's raised eyebrows with a small frown.

"For now, just…let me talk to my daughter for awhile…? I want to spend a few days with her…Reason with her…Use the last remaining days before school starts to spend time with her. With any luck, I'll be able to convince Harry by myself…And maybe we won't have to resort to this entire mess." He reasoned softly, but at his words, Peter just frowned at him and shook his head at him in disbelief.

"James, like I said, what makes you think you can convince her otherwise–"

"I'm her _father, _goddamn it!" James suddenly snapped at him, inadvertently causing Peter to jump in surprise and Hadriana to nearly drop her cup of tea in shock. "If _I _can't help my daughter see the truth, then how can I expect anyone else to?! Look! Like I said, just give me a few days to try and talk to her. At least until her birthday next week." He raised both hands and covered his face in exhaustion.

Frowning, Hadriana reached across the table and tried to caress his jaw to get his attention.

"But sweetheart, I thought you promised me that we'd go to Paris next week for the fall show–"

"I'm sorry, Hadriana." James lifted his face from his hands and moved slightly away from Hadriana's outstretched hand. "But Sirius and I promised Harry that we'd take her to Romania that week for her birthday. There's a Quidditch exhibition there…Including her favorite team and all the Quidditch stars of this season. Plus, I think the Weasleys invited her over to visit so she could see the dragons–"

"James, you promised _me _as well! I rearranged so much so we could go to Paris!" Hadriana seethed at him, but her anger accomplished nothing but earn a similar look of anger from him in return.

"We can go see that stupid fashion show some other time!" He snapped back impatiently.

"I can't _believe _you! How dare you call the biggest show of the season _stupid?! _I want to go–"

"Then go by _yourself, _Hadriana!" James ground out through gritted teeth as he ran a hand furiously through his hair again. "You can't honestly expect me to miss my daughter's birthday for that–"

"I can't go by myself – I told all my friends that you would be there with me!" Hadriana argued huffily, her eyes beginning to water as she glared back at James annoyed expression. "Baby, please–"

"James." Peter suddenly cut through the middle of their fight, his eyes wide as stared at something over Hadriana's shoulder. The bickering couple didn't seem to hear him the first time, however, and took it took a few more attempts of trying to catch James' attention before he heard him.

"_PRONGS!"_

"What the hell do you want, Peter?!" James snapped, his eyes flashing as he turned to glare at him.

"Where's Harry?!"

* * *

Harry scowled to herself as she walked briskly through the semi-crowded walkways of Diagon Alley in mild annoyance. _They're so caught up in themselves that they didn't even notice me slip away. Ah well, good for me I suppose. I would never have gotten rid of them otherwise. Idiots. _She thought.

The only reason they had forced her into going out with them that afternoon anyway was because James told her that he wanted to 'celebrate Harry's triumph as the new TriWizard Champion.'

_Triumph as the new TriWizard Champion?! _She thought incredulously to herself and she had glared at her father as though he was the densest man alive. _Who are they even kidding?! How can he even think that I'd care about being named as the TriWizard Champion NOW after everything that's happened?! Do they really think I've been making all this up like some crazy kid?!_ She raged silently.

Truth be told, the main reason Harry had actually excused herself from the table and stepped out of the restaurant in the first place was because Peter had done nothing else during the last two hours but try and convince her that everything she witnessed during the Third Task was all in her head.

_He may as well have called me a liar to my face! _Harry seethed to herself, growing even angrier when she realized that her father hadn't said a single _word _to defend her against Peter's accusations.

Though, she had to admit that James _had _been overly concerned and watchful over her for the last couple of weeks – ever since the disaster of the Third Task had come about – but that also meant that James was being particularly careful not to let Harry out of their house or talk to anyone else. It was as though James was _deliberately _trying to keep Harry away from the outside world – and this was evidenced by the way James had been keeping all the wizarding newspapers in the house away from her.

Another strange thing Harry noted this summer – though she wasn't actually sure if she could attribute this to James or her grandfather – was how all of her letters to her friends this summer had gone completely unanswered. Not one of them – not even the lengthy letters she wrote to Hermione and Cedric had received a response. When she asked Hedwig about this, her owl had just given her a long, reproachful glare – followed by an unhappy hoot before she flew off and left Harry staring at her.

Now, the only snippets of information Harry was able to piece together were from the few Daily Prophet articles she was able to scavenge each time Augustus took her with him to Diagon Alley. They weren't much though – since Augustus pretty much watched her like a hawk – but during those few times that Harry would excuse herself to go to the bathroom, she would actually slip out of the restaurant and look for the most recent editions of the Daily Prophet from any nearby newspaper stand.

The information she managed to gather disturbed her.

For the last few months, ever since the newspapers had gotten wind of the mess that had occurred during the third task of the TriWizard Tournament, all of the daily tabloids had been depicting Harry as some sort of…_mentally disturbed teenager _who had broken down in the middle of the tournament and started screaming about the dark lord's supposed return. It was a _horrible _allegation, really, because now, not only did the newspapers criticize her yet again for her reckless behavior, but Rita Skeeter was constantly writing about the possible reasons behind Harry's supposed 'breakdown'.

And her reasons stretched around a variety of things such as – an inborn mental illness, a traumatic scar on her brain from her mother's murder, and even drug abuse that may have caused Harry's 'delusions'. The accusations were insulting, nothing short of _degrading, _and Harry was furious.

_What right do they have to call me mentally disturbed?! I know what I saw, why won't any of them believe me?! _Harry thought angrily to herself, clenching her jaw as she hurriedly backed away from an approaching reporter and began walking towards a side alley. It was bad _enough _that everyone else in the Ministry didn't believe her – what was worse was that her own father didn't believe her either.

Peter had even gone as far as to try and blame Harry's 'condition' on her recent associations with Draco Malfoy – who everyone knew was the son of former Death Eater, Lucius Malfoy – but fortunately, when the accusations against Draco were dropped after he was questioned _again_ for the Third Task, neither Peter nor James could do anything. Unfortunately, when Harry wrote an apology to Draco the week after school, she hadn't received a response from him either, and she was frustrated.

_I can't blame him. If I got into trouble with the Ministry every time I tried to help me, I'd start avoiding me too. Especially since the media seems to be on my tail now the way a wolf hunts after sheep. I'm nothing but bad news. _Harry thought gloomily, shaking her head and sighing as she walked faster.

That summer, James had done nothing else but talk to the media and try to convince them that Harry was just 'under a lot of stress lately' and that she would be spending this much-needed break from school away from people so that she could get rest to help her through her nervous breakdown.

_At least that's what he wants people to believe, anyway. _Harry added bitterly to herself, shaking her head just as she ducked her head and began making her way through another side alley in silence. She made sure to avoid anyone else's gaze lest they recognize her. As she was about to reach Flourish and Blotts, however, a tall, man walking from the other direction suddenly caught her eye, and she froze.

_Amos Diggory. _Harry thought in panic, her eyes immediately darting around her to find a nearby shop to tuck herself into. Luckily, she managed to squeeze herself into a small alley just in time before Amos recognized her, and once he was gone, Harry relaxed and she breathed out a sigh of relief.

_Thank Merlin. _She thought to herself, raising a hand and brushing back a few strands that had fallen into her face. _I don't think I can handle facing him now. I don't even know if Cedric's mad at me._ She thought, thinking back on how she and Cedric hadn't seen each other since Kings Cross station.

Though her Hufflepuff boyfriend _had _apologized to her for acting the way he did during the Third Task, _and _he had thanked her profusely for taking the TriWizard Cup for him – knowing it was a portkey – Harry got the impression that Cedric wasn't sure if he believed her about Voldemort just yet.

He hadn't tried to broach the incident even _once, _and when Harry had tried to bring up the topic herself, Cedric had smoothly evaded the conversation by changing the subject. In any case, the two of them were together the entire train ride back home, and neither of them brought up the TriWizard Tournament again. It was when Amos Diggory had arrived to pick up his son that Harry felt the full weight of what had happened, because the look he had given her was disapproval as he led Cedric away.

_Obviously, Mr. Diggory thinks I'm a delusional liar too. I wonder if he's going to tell Cedric to break up with me now. _Harry thought dully, sighing and raising a hand up to massage her temples.

The only ones who seemed to believe her at all were, as she expected, Ron, Hermione and Neville – since even the other Gryffindors didn't seem to want to believe her either. Surprisingly, Arthur Weasley seemed to believe her as well, and to know that, at least, gave Harry a little more reassurance.

It was almost as though…_everyone _she knew would much rather believe that the entire mess that had happened during the Third Task _was _perpetuated by Barty Crouch Jr. – an escaped former Death Eater and Azkaban convict out to kill Harry – rather than by Lord Voldemort and his Death Eaters.

How she wished she could pretend along with everyone else's lies and believe that as well.

"Good afternoon!"

Startled out of her reverie by the warm, jovial voice that had spoken, Harry looked up just as she was entering a quaint, little flower shop and looked for the person who had spoken. Flicking her gaze over to the small counter in the corner of the shop, she saw a tall, slender woman smiling warmly at her.

"How may I help you?" She asked again, peering curiously at Harry.

Glancing up at her and meeting her smile with a quick nod, Harry idly noted that the woman was actually very lovely – with pale skin, bright blue eyes, and beautiful red hair. In fact, it was actually the first time Harry had ever seen such a unique shade of red hair before – certainly the Weasleys' hair was never that color, theirs was more of an orange-red shade, while this woman's hair was a unique _ruby _red.

"Are you okay, sweetie?"

Harry tore herself out of her admiring stupor and looked up again, wincing sheepishly at the woman when she smiled expectantly at her. "Sorry…" Harry managed to say with an embarrassed laugh. "I was just staring at your hair…It's a unique color. It's the first time I saw anything like it." She admitted.

The woman looked surprised at Harry's words for a minute, before she laughed and shook her head, her eyes lighting up with good humor. "So I've been told… People have always told me how weird the color of my hair was." She agreed, but at her words, Harry's eyes widened and she shook her head.

"Oh no, you misunderstood me. The color is very beautiful, actually." Harry managed a smile as she said this when the woman blinked at her in surprise again. "My mother's hair color was just like yours…" Harry explained further, causing the woman to smile again and nod back in understanding.

"I see…Well just by looking at you, dear…I can tell your mother is a very beautiful woman herself." She told her gently, but as soon as she noticed the way Harry's eyes had dimmed at her words, she frowned in concern. "Is something wrong…?" She asked as she stepped out from behind the counter.

Harry shook her head, but she was careful not to show her face when she answered. "My mother's…_gone_, actually." Sighing, she lifted her gaze and met the woman's guilty expression. "She died when I was just a baby… I only know how she looks like from her photographs." She explained quietly.

The woman put a hand to her chest and stared at Harry in silence, her beautiful features slowly forming into a pained grimace. Eventually, however, when the awkward silence seemed to prolong itself and Harry could no longer handle the attention, she almost moved away – but then she stopped when she felt a soft, warm hand reaching gently for her own. Drawing her gaze back up, she met the woman's gentle blue eyes questioningly, and she was startled when she just gave her another small, quiet smile.

"Well…If I was your mother…" She lifted her free hand up and used it to touch Harry's cheek gently, before she tucked a loose lock of Harry's black hair behind her ear."I would be very _proud _of having such a beautiful daughter like you." She smiled again at Harry's slightly confused expression.

"_Autumn! _Are you here?"

_Oh no. _Harry felt the blood drain out of her face at the sight of the two figures standing outside the entrance of the shop. _Draco and Narcissa Malfoy…I can not handle them right now. _She thought nervously, stiffening and looking around her for a place to hide. Beside her, the woman – whom she could only assume was the one Narcissa had called 'Autumn' – looked amused at her obvious panic.

"Is everything okay–"

"_Shh! _Have you got someplace to hide?! _Anywhere _at all?! I can't let those two see me!" Harry suddenly hissed at her, but when Autumn just looked uncertainly at her, Harry's voice grew more frantic.

"_Look! _That guy over there…He's my arch rival in school, and I seriously doubt he'd want to see me right now either! I can't face him right now. Is there anywhere I can hide at all? Please?!" Harry stared imploringly at her with wide green eyes, stiffening further when she heard Narcissa call out again.

"Autumn? Is everything all right in there? Can we come in?"

Harry blinked rapidly and turned to stare at Autumn again. "_Please?!" _She begged urgently.

Sighing, Autumn seemed to come to terms with her request. While Narcissa was still calling out to her from outside, she finally turned to Harry and gestured her under one of her flower tables. "You can hide under one of my tables here…They won't see you. You'll be concealed by the table cloth." She explained, earning an extremely grateful grin from Harry before she disappeared under the small table.

As soon as she was safely concealed, Harry heard Autumn address Narcissa outside immediately and begin ushering her into the shop. Making sure that she was completely hidden, Harry took that opportunity to peer at Narcissa and Draco from underneath the table cloth and watch their interaction.

"_Finally, _Autumn…I was beginning to think you were deliberately ignoring us back there." Narcissa mentioned idly as she stepped into the shop, her blue eyes scanning curiously around the area.

For a moment, Harry was taken back at exactly how beautiful Narcissa Malfoy was – but then, she supposed it wasn't something that should have come as a surprise. Meanwhile, Draco looked exactly like Harry had last seen him – but she couldn't help notice that her Slytherin rival had definitely gotten taller than how he was a few months ago. At fifteen, he had completely reached his mother's height.

"Narcissa." Autumn greeted, and when the other woman nodded back at her, Autumn turned to Draco and gave him a warm smile. "Is that you, Draco? My…I believe he grows more and more handsome each time I see him, 'Cissa. He looks just like his father." She told them, causing Narcissa to laugh at her comment and for Draco to make a face at her before he rolled his eyes and slinked away.

"I'll look around, Mother." He drawled, his expression decidedly bored as he excused himself from the two women and began walking lazily around the shop. When he began to walk closer to the table Harry was under, she ducked back under the table cloth and clamped her hands over her mouth.

"Well…What can I do for you this afternoon, 'Cissa…? Is there anything in particular you're looking for today?" Autumn's voice was decidedly cheerful as she spoke to Narcissa again, and despite Draco's impending nearness to her hiding place, Harry couldn't help but listen in to their conversation.

"Oh, nothing much really." Narcissa sounded equally cheerful as she answered. "I just thought I'd stop by to look at your creations for today, Autumn. You see, I'm having tea with a few friends of mine tomorrow afternoon, I thought I'd decorate with a few of your lovely flowers." She explained.

Harry could hear the smile in Autumn's voice when she answered. "Oh, well in that case… I'd be glad to show you the stuff I made today. Here–" Harry heard a soft ruffling sound for a few seconds, and she almost peered out from under the table again to check but then Narcissa suddenly spoke up sharply.

"Draco, would you _stop _that?!"

At Narcissa's angry, admonishing snap, Harry heard Draco grumble and felt a loud thud above the table she was hiding under. In her shock, she had to bite her tongue to keep from gasping in surprise.

"Merlin's beard, Mother…I was just looking at it. I've never seen such a strange breed of flower before." Draco drawled, and though Harry couldn't see his expression, she got the hint he was scowling. In response, Narcissa made a tutting sound that sounded laced with disapproval before she spoke again.

"It wouldn't do to just randomly pick up the flowers like that. Autumn has told you _dozens _of times that some of the flowers here are _dangerous, _you could get yourself hurt." She snapped, and upon hearing her admonishment, Draco had the temerity to sound slightly sheepish when he answered her.

"Sorry, it won't happen again—"

Autumn's lighthearted laugh cut the rest of Draco's response off, and Harry couldn't help but listen intently when she heard her voice nearing Draco's. "Oh, don't worry about it, 'Cissa. Those flowers are hardly dangerous at all anyway. Those white ones behind him are actually the more interesting ones."

Harry felt her presence draw nearer, and she could only assume that the soft clinking coming from the table behind her hiding spot was Autumn rearranging some of the flowers. "Actually, these were the new flowers I wanted to show you, Narcissa. They just bloomed this morning, though I crossed them a few days ago." Autumn's voice took on a cheerful note as she explained to the other woman.

Slightly curious, Harry made use of their momentary distraction to peek her head out from under the table again, watching discreetly as Draco and Narcissa followed Autumn to the other table.

"What are they called?" Narcissa asked, and when she moved slightly to the side, Harry was able to catch a glimpse of what Autumn was holding – a pot of white slightly bulbous flowers that had a faint similarity to hyacinths. Harry might have thought them beautiful, had they not looked so eerily strange.

Autumn chuckled at Narcissa's curious expression and held the flower up higher to explain. "They're a creation of mine…A cross between white hyacinths and the nymph lotus flower. As you can see…" She lifted the flowers to her face, taking a whiff and sighing when a serene look filled her eyes.

"Their scent is infused with the magical properties of the lotus flower… One whiff of these flowers will send any person into a state of calm or a relaxed state of mind." Autumn turned to Narcissa again and smiled when she saw her do the same – taking a whiff of the flower and visibly relaxing.

"They're _beautiful, _Autumn." Narcissa told her, smiling back and taking a few of the flowers from the table. "And they're _perfect _for my tea party tomorrow. I'll take a few dozen of these—"

"—White Aeqids." Autumn supplied for her, and when both women moved back over to the counter to handle the purchases, Draco sighed and glowered at his mother in obvious boredom. Glancing idly around the shop again, he reached a hand into his pocket and took out a golden snitch.

"Is there anything else in particular you're looking for, Mother?" He drawled as he released the snitch and lazily alternated his time between catching it in his fist and releasing it back into the air.

From the counter, Narcissa glanced at him over her shoulder and gave him a thoughtful look. "Well, I believe we're out of flowers to decorate our living room this week, darling. Why don't you look around and try to look for something we can use?" She suggested, and he straightened at her request.

"What kind of flower are you looking for?" He asked, his voice dripping with mild disinterest but Narcissa ignored his expression and smiled back cheerfully at him, answering him with a careless shrug.

"Oh….you choose, darling. Just look for anything beautiful, I have no particular preference." She answered. After this, she chuckled and turned back around to resume her conversation with Autumn.

Sighing to himself, Draco shrugged helplessly at his mother's words before he turned and began looking around the small shop. Her heart pounding, Harry crouched lower in her hiding spot to make sure he couldn't see her watching him. Fortunately, Draco chose to stop near the front of the shop.

"Hmm…How about _these _flowers, Mother…?" Draco caught the snitch in his hand again just as it was flying around near his forehead and peered down at a single row of slender flowers on the table. Curious, Harry had to crane her neck slightly upwards so that she could see what Draco was looking at.

Without waiting for Narcissa or Autumn to answer, Draco leaned down and picked up one of the flowers from the table, holding it up to inspect it in the light. From where she was watching, Harry's eyes widened in surprise at Draco's choice – it was a very rare flower, unlike anything Harry had ever seen before, with beautiful jade petals and a sparkling white center. Its stalk, however, was littered with quite a few nasty thorns that Harry rather thought that one could get a pretty bad wound from holding them.

"Oh…That's actually one of my favorites." Autumn suddenly chimed in as she looked up and caught sight of the flower in Draco's hands. "That's a wonderful choice, Draco…Shall I wrap these up for you as well? Unfortunately, I only make a few of these flowers every couple of years." She explained.

"Good heavens." Narcissa exclaimed at Draco when she noticed the flower he held in his hand. "Darling, it's a beautiful flower but I don't particularly like those nasty looking thorns. Are you sure that's what you want?" She asked uncertainly, her eyebrows scrunching together as she eyed the green flower.

Lifting his gaze back up to meet hers, Draco met his mother's reluctant expression for a few seconds before he shrugged and smirked. "I like them. Can we put these around the house?" He asked.

Narcissa seemed to hesitate for a few moments, but when she saw the decisive expression on Draco's face, she sighed and looked imploringly at him. "Darling, there are so many beautiful flowers around here. Why did you choose something as fierce and as thorny as that?" She complained lightly.

Draco didn't answer right away and instead, snatched the golden snitch from where it hovered near his left ear. When Narcissa continued to stare reproachfully at him, he gave her a careless shrug.

"I don't know…" He inspected the flower he held in his hand again. "It's… beautiful. And it's unique…and…._rare." _As though to confirm this, Draco directed his attention to Autumn again, watching as the red-haired woman smiled back at him, nodding at his words and turning to address Narcissa.

"Draco's right, you know." Autumn laughed at the dubious expression on Narcissa's face and explained further. "It's actually a cross using one of the rarest flowers in the world, the Green Jade Flower." She began, and when Draco's gaze shifted back to her, Autumn smiled at him and continued.

"The Green Jade is nearly impossible to find these days. I was only fortunate enough to encounter it while I was on a sabbatical in Asia. There are hardly any more of these flowers left." She explained, and when this seemed to appease them a bit, Draco nodded and looked at the flower again.

"What did you cross it with—_OW!" _

Startled at the sudden curse of pain that had issued from Draco's lips, Harry had to cover her mouth to muffle her soft laughter and she quickly ducked below the table to keep from being seen. When she was positively sure that they weren't looking in her direction, she peeked her head out again.

"Devil's snare." Autumn answered, hiding a small smirk at the annoyed expression on Draco's face when he had dropped the flower back hastily onto the table and clutched at his wounded finger.

"Bloody hell!" Draco gritted his teeth in annoyance as he glared at the flower he had dropped, watching in surprise as Autumn lifted the flower in her hand and carefully stroked the long, slithering vines that had slid out from the flower's stems. The vines – which Draco had originally thought were docile thorns– had suddenly slithered out of the flower's stem and had scraped at Draco's left hand.

"I thought those were _thorns._" He mused, and when he looked up and saw the 'I-told-you-so' expression on his mother's face, he couldn't help but smirk in amusement and shake his head. "Merlin… It's a flower that's both beautiful and can defend itself. What did you name this anyway—" He commented, grinning as he tried to take it from Autumn's hand again. Draco winced again, however, and quickly drew his hand back in alarm when one of the flower's thorns made to scratch at him again.

"Yikes!" Draco hastily stepped back from the flower again, inadvertently bumping into his mother and causing the older blonde to give him an annoyed glare. Cringing, Draco glanced up and met Autumn's highly amused expression with a smirk of his own. "Bit of a nasty temper that one." He mused.

At his reaction, Harriet's lips twitched and she covered her mouth again to keep from laughing.

Apparently, Autumn seemed to find Draco's reaction to the flower amusing too because she was laughing as she handed the flower in her hand back to him and met his expression with a roguish grin.

"I named it the _Jade Snare._" She told him, but when Draco seemed to hesitate in taking the flower from her hands, she added further. "Just keep a firm grip around the base of its stem and it won't scratch you again. If you smother it or handle it too gently, it'll lash out at you like a shark." She quipped.

"I'll keep that in mind." Draco retorted wryly as he stuffed his golden snitch back in his robe pockets and took the flower from her hand. As Autumn had instructed, he gripped the base of the stem firmly, and sure enough, the Jade Snare's long vines relaxed and drew back into thorns against its stem.

"Wonderful." Autumn smiled approvingly at him before she turned to address Narcissa again. "Shall I wrap up your White Aeqids for you, 'Cissa? Or do you want them delivered to your house—"

"While you're at it, I'll take a dozen of these Jade Snares too, Autumn." Draco suddenly interrupted, causing both Autumn and Narcissa to glance at him in surprise. When Narcissa seemed too surprised to say anything for a few moments, Autumn managed a startled smile and answered him.

"I'm afraid I don't have any more Jade Snares, Draco. Just these few ones right here—"

"Oh, that's alright, I'll take them all then." Draco cut her off again, nodding in understanding and ignoring both women as he lifted the flower up in his hand again and languidly stroked its green petals.

"D—darling…" Narcissa laughed nervously and could only watch as Autumn nodded at Draco's request and walked back over to the counter to prepare their purchases. "A—are you sure you want these? How about some nice red roses or some white magnolias instead? Or maybe a few daffodils? You can give them to your girlfriend too! I can't imagine how our guests are going to react when they see these dangerous flowers around the house—" She began but Draco just stubbornly shook his head.

"I don't give flowers to girls_, _Mother." He drawled wryly, still smirking as he stroked the petals of the Jade Snare in his hand again. "Although…I _can _think of one particularly annoying girl I'd want to give a dangerous flower to. It might actually be pretty funny." Draco thought out loud, sniggering to himself.

Narcissa looked exasperated at his words, but when she saw the sneer on his face, she rolled her eyes and began walking back over to where Autumn was waiting for her behind the shop's counter.

"I swear, that boy…" Narcissa let out a worn out sigh in exhaustion. "Merlin help me if my son never finds a girl with the same mean personality as his. No other girl could handle him otherwise, and I'd be stuck with him forever." She admitted worriedly to Autumn, causing the other woman to laugh.

"Well, you know what they say, 'Cissa." Autumn told her cheerfully as they both glanced over at Draco again, watching as the blonde Slytherin took out his golden snitch and began playing with it again.

"Opposites attract."

* * *

As soon as Narcissa and Draco had exited the shop, Harry finally breathed out a sigh of relief and stepped out from her hiding place underneath the table. Just as the two blondes were walking down the street, however, Harry managed to glance at them just as a flurry of wizards came rushing towards them from the opposite direction, immediately causing Draco to stop in mid-stride. Instinctively, he grabbed onto his mother's arm and quickly pulled her aside before the crowd of wizards could knock into her.

Once the large group of wizards had passed and Narcissa regained her balance, she turned and rewarded Draco with a smile, reaching over and wrapping her arms around him in an affectionate hug. At this, Draco rolled his eyes at his mother's display of affection, and when Narcissa bent over and dropped a kiss onto the top of his head, Draco's scowl deepened even more and he tried to pull away.

_It's unfair, really. _Harry thought to herself, her eyes beginning to dim in sadness as she watched Narcissa reward her son with another warm smile before she released him and began to walk ahead.

_I don't think Malfoy even realizes how lucky he is…_She thought quietly, still watching as Narcissa reached over, linked her son's arm around hers and led him down the busy streets of Diagon Alley. Harry stared after both their retreating backs in silence, watching as they walked further and further away.

_I wonder if my mother ever hugged me…_Harry blinked rapidly and quickly tore her eyes away from the scene. _I doubt I'd be old enough to remember f she had… I'm sure she did… I just wish I could remember what it felt like. _She thought sadly, sighing and shaking her head to clear the thought away.

"…Are you okay?"

A soft, gentle voice suddenly broke Harry out of her trance and she looked up, belatedly realizing that she had been staring solemnly out the shop's window for a good couple of minutes. Draco and Narcissa were long gone by now, and Autumn was staring at her with a worried frown on her face.

When Harry blinked and stared uncertainly at her for a few awkward moments, the frown marring Autumn's features softened and she changed her approach by giving her an encouraging smile.

"I'm afraid I never got your name." She began kindly, but when Harry just stared back quietly at her again, Autumn gave her another disarming smile and shrugged. "Why don't I start?" She offered.

"I'm Autumn Perigreen…I'm the owner of this flower shop." Autumn managed a rueful grin at the younger girl and ducked her head sheepishly. "It's not much, but as you may have gathered by now, I'm a flower enthusiast. I collect all kinds of flowers – both magical _and _muggle flowers – from all over the world… and then I cross them, create new specimens of magical flowers and sell them here. Think of it as an advanced and specialized form of Herbology, if you will." She explained, managing a light laugh.

"It's not exactly a thriving business, but most of the time, it gets me by. After all, all that really matters is that I'm doing something I love. In the end, that's what really counts." Autumn ended her introduction with a small smile before she turned to Harry again and raised her eyebrows expectantly.

_Autumn Perigreen…Autumn Perigreen… Now why does that name sound so familiar…? _

Harry frowned to herself, completely ignoring Autumn's question for a few seconds as she tried to recall in her head where she had heard that name before. The answer seemed to elude her somewhat, and it wasn't actually until Harry had glimpsed the familiar emblem hanging by the wall near the back of the shop that she realized exactly who Autumn was – and all the blood rushed to her face.

"A—Autumn Perigreen…Merlin's Beard…You're…._Y—you're-_" Hearing her own pathetically squeaking voice, Harry shook her head furiously at herself and hastily cleared the lump in her throat. Wincing, Autumn was just on the verge of offering her a sheepish smile when Harry finally exclaimed.

"—the former captain and champion seeker of the Puddlemere United Quidditch Team?! _That _Autumn Perigreen?! M—Merlin's Beard—" Harry could barely squelch the excited squeal that was threatening to erupt from her as she glanced up again and stared at Autumn with wide, adoring eyes.

"—you were the best seeker Puddlemere ever _had,_ and you were my favorite player when I was a kid! Where have you_ been _all these years, Autumn?! Why did you ever stop Quidditch, you were _wicked!" _Harry exclaimed, but as soon as the words left her lips, she regretted them instantly because the smile on Autumn's face faltered, and she hastily looked away so Harry couldn't see her reaction.

_Oh. Crap. _Harry bit her tongue, inwardly cursing herself for her thoughtlessness and managed a shamefaced smile. "O—oh…" Without meaning to, her gaze inadvertently flicked to Autumn's left leg, but when she glanced up at Autumn's face again, she saw that the former seeker was smiling at her.

"I—I'm sorry, that was rude of me. I shouldn't have said—"

"It's alright." Autumn laughed at her embarrassment and shook her head, her blue eyes twinkling with mirth. "When my left leg snapped and they told me I could never play Quidditch again because the bone would never be able to grow back to normal, I was devastated. But then, I realized I had already accomplished my dreams, so I figured that what happened was just life's way of telling me that it was time to slow down. So I did." She met Harry's surprised expression with a smile. "Besides, it turned out for the best anyway. I got to spend more time with my family and friends, _and_ I discovered that I was actually pretty good at _other _things too. Like flowers, for instance." She told her, grinning.

Unknown to her, the embarrassment in Harry's expression slowly melted away into surprised admiration, and the Gryffindor couldn't help smiling back as she met Autumn's bright blue eyes.

"That's really…_something._" She thought out loud, earning another embarrassed laugh from Autumn in return. Shaking her head, Autumn gave her a mock scowl and pretended to make a face.

"Now that's enough about me, I'm getting rather sick of talking about myself." She kidded. "To be fair, I believe that it's your turn to introduce yourself now. Can you at least tell me your name—"

"_HARRIET JAMIE POTTER!" _

Gasping, Harry must have jumped about a mile in the air at the sound of her father's growl behind her, and when she turned around, she paled in dismay at the sight of James storming furiously into the shop toward her. To her relief, neither Peter nor Hadriana were with him, although Harry couldn't exactly be sure if that was a good thing considering James looked angry enough to maim her.

"_DO YOU HAVE ANY IDEA HOW MUCH YOU SCARED ME, YOUNG LADY?!_" He seethed at her, causing Harry's eyes to widen in panic when she saw the visible anger flaring in his bright hazel eyes.

When James got to her, however, just as he looked ready enough to scruff her by her collar, Harry winced and she laughed sheepishly as she began to back away. "D—Dad! Before you get angry, try and think about the relief you're feeling just now about the fact that your darling little girl is safe and sound and _unharmed._" She smiled nervously, putting particular emphasis on the word 'unharmed'.

"Just think about that wonderful _relief_ you're feeling right now before you do anything rash – like _maiming me _for instance – because then, all your worries would have gone to waste—_wait! _Dad!"

Gaping in panic, Harry meeped and ducked just in time as James was reaching for her neck, inadvertently forcing him to collide painfully against Autumn and thus causing _both_ of them to collapse in a tangled heap of limbs on the floor. When that didn't seem to divert the Minister's attention from his panicking daughter, however, and James looked on the verge of lunging at Harry again as he tried to stand up, it was Autumn's laughing voice that startled the former marauder out of his enraged trance.

"Well…I _must _say…" Autumn's eyes were bright with mirth as she forced herself into a sitting position and drew her gaze up to meet James' shocked stare from where he was standing beside her. "When all those tabloids talk about women falling all over themselves for the Minister of Magic, I didn't actually think _this _was what they had in mind." She kidded, and the minute her words had registered in James' head, he flushed and snapped out of his shock immediately, hastily bending down to help her up.

"_Shit—_Ah! I mean—I'm sorry, Miss. Let me help you up."

Harry's eyes widened at her father's unintentional crude swearing in front of a woman – something she had _never _seen James do before – and watched curiously as James struggled to help Autumn back to her feet. When he had managed to do so and Autumn stood there, her eyes flicking curiously back and forth between him and Harry, she spoke, directing her attention to Harry this time.

"I take it…_you're _Harriet Potter then?" She asked wryly, looking thoroughly amused when Harry's initial reaction was to look embarrassed at her slightly accusatory tone of voice. "Merlin…" Autumn thought out loud to herself, shaking her head in dismay. "I guess I can pay you back for acting all star struck awhile ago now." She grinned at Harry's answering grimace and turned to smile at James.

"I'm _terribly _sorry, I apologize for the intrusion—" James began, but to Harry's surprise, when Autumn drew her gaze up to meet her father's eyes, the Minister froze in surprise – his eyes going wide and a strange expression forming on his face. Then, for the next few minutes, as Autumn stared curiously at him and waited patiently for him to finish his sentence, James struggled for his next words.

"—that is…Well, I uh…" James' eyebrows came together, and the frustration on his face was obviously one borne of confusion as to why exactly he was having trouble thinking of something to say.

"…Thank you for looking after Harry…I'm—"

James paused, suddenly remembering his manners, and he laughed nervously as he stepped forward and sheepishly extended his hand in belated greeting. "How incredibly rude of me…Allow me to introduce myself first, Miss. My name is James Potter, I'm the current Minister of Magic. And you are—?"

Autumn's lips twitched at his introduction, and purposely bypassing his question, she met his formal smile with a decidedly amused grin. "Under the usual circumstances, I feel that I should be introducing myself properly and thanking you for helping me up, Minister. Followed by giving you the complimentary lie of saying that 'it's an honor to meet you'." Autumn quipped, hiding a small smile.

To Harry's surprise, instead of reacting the way she expected her father would, James' lips had twitched in reluctant amusement at Autumn's words, and he arched an eyebrow at her in question.

"…but?" He prodded further, waiting for the rest of her response.

Instead of answering him right away, Autumn laughed at him again before she trailed her eyes downward – away from James' expectant face until her gaze was resting on his shiny leather shoes.

Harry realized what Autumn meant to say about five seconds before she spoke the words, but the hilarity of the entire situation wasn't lost on her – and she covered her mouth to muffle her laughter.

"—before anything else, I first feel obliged to inform you, Minister Potter—" Autumn paused, lifting her gaze from James' black shoes and meeting Harry's flushed, laughing expression with a wink.

"—you're _crushing _my foot."

"Ah shit." James coughed and hastily took a few steps backward, trying to mask the embarrassment he could feel seeping into his cheeks. Hearing Harry burst out laughing behind him, he flushed even darker and grumbled as he turned around, glowering irritably at the younger Gryffindor.

"Oh shut up." He shot his sniggering daughter a warning glare in retaliation but to his frustration, this just seemed to make Harry laugh even harder until she was practically wheezing out for oxygen.

"It's an _honor _to meet you, Minister." Autumn drew their attention again just as James was reaching out to strangle his laughing daughter's neck. To both Harry and James' amusement, her words had actually sounded sincere this time as she looked up and rewarded James with very beautiful smile.

"Please call me Autumn…Autumn Perigreen."

Arching an eyebrow, Harry smothered a smirk when she saw the expression on James' face.

"The honor's mine…" James' features had unknowingly softened into a similar smile of his own as he looked up and stared intently into Autumn's bright blue eyes. "…Please call me _James._ Thank you for looking after Harry. She's a handful, my daughter" He added, rewarding Autumn with a nervous grin.

Scowling and rolling her eyes, Harry opened her mouth to blurt out that she didn't _need _anyone looking after her, but she caught herself – suddenly realizing that something very strange was going on.

It was the first time _ever_ that Harry had actually seen her father – James Potter, one of the worst playboys of the generation – so openly nervous around a woman like this, so much that Harry was actually considering the possibility of looking into Autumn Perigreen further. Perhaps Harry could try and figure out exactly what it was about this red-haired woman that was making her father act this way.

"–you have a very lovely shop, Autumn. Well…I guess Harry and I should be going then–"

James' voice suddenly broke through Harry's musings, drawing the Gryffindor away from her thoughts until she realized, rather belatedly, that she had been staring off into empty space for the past five minutes, and that James and Autumn were already on the verge of saying goodbye to one another.

"I hope to see you again, Harry." Autumn smiled at her, watching as both father and daughter began walking towards the exit of the shop. "Please feel free to drop by again anytime." She added.

Unable to resist the genuine openness that radiated off the other woman, Harry smiled back warmly at Autumn in agreement and nodded, turning back around and giving her a thumbs-up sign.

"Of course, I will. I _demand _that you teach me your old Quidditch moves." She kidded.

Unfortunately, this proved to be rather disastrous on their end because the minute Autumn had smiled at Harry's quip, James chose that exact same moment to turn back around and glance back at her – inadvertently causing himself to crash painfully – and humiliatingly – against the shop's glass doors.

"Ah _shit._"

Harry's eyes widened to the size of saucers, but as soon as she burst out laughing, James growled, grabbed Harry by the scruff of her collar, mumbled miserably and hauled her out of the shop.

* * *

"M–Merlin Beard, Prongs! I _drunked _the entire bottle! I'm sho proud of me!" Sirius slurred, hiccuping a few times before he downed another shot of whiskey and turned a drunken grin to James.

"Now…I _challenge _you to a bottle of _vodka!_" He exclaimed, but unfortunately, just as the words had left his lips, the shot glass he held slipped from his fingers and toppled haphazardly onto the grass. Seated on the ground beside him, Harry rolled her eyes at her godfather's near drunken state and sighed as she reached over and took the empty bottle of whiskey from Sirius, frowning in disapproval.

"Wh–what are you doing, 'arry?! Don't go spoiling the evening now, we still have a Quidditch Match to watch! Afterwards, Prongs and I promised that we'd play a round of Quidditch with you! 'Arry? You there?" Sirius asked blearily, wincing as he tried to stand up and ended up falling to the ground.

"Sirius, the Quidditch match ended more than three hours ago. You're drunk as a codger." Harry sighed at him again but when Sirius groaned loudly and fell asleep, she couldn't help laughing and shaking her head in dismay. "Dad, maybe we should bring him back in wheelbarrow." She kidded.

A few steps in front of them, lying casually on the grassy stretch that was atop a hill overlooking the horizon, James was lying on his back – his legs outstretched and his hands tucked behind his head. At the sound of Sirius' drunken snores, however, James smirked and looked over his shoulder at them.

"Just leave him there." He drawled, chuckling when he saw the way Sirius was sprawled out sloppily on the grass. "He's been through worse drunken bouts before, he'll get over this. Though, I want to be the first one to see his face when he wakes up hungover in the morning." James sniggered.

Harry laughed at her father's suggestion, but she did exactly as James had instructed and stood up, leaving her godfather snoring unceremoniously on the grass beside their tent. Around them, she glanced around and noticed that about a hundred more wizarding tents were scattered around the large grassy area. The occupants of the tents were probably already fast asleep since the Quidditch match was over and everybody else was just waiting for the next morning before they began packing their things.

When the Quidditch match had ended that evening, instead of going around and scouting the large camping area for any of his friends or officials – which James usually did during matches like these – he and Sirius had actually surprised Harry when they had repositioned their tent on the farthest side of the camp site – directly on top of a large cliff that lay overlooking a beautiful valley below, and had spent the next couple of hours regaling Harry with hilarious stories of their various misadventures in Hogwarts.

Unfortunately, their little storytelling session had come complete with a large bottle of whiskey – courtesy of Sirius – and soon enough, after about three hours of shot after shot, Sirius had successfully gotten himself drunk while James, on the other hand, was just on the verge of getting tipsy.

Sometime in the middle of their lively discussion, Harriet had actually wanted to try a small shot of whiskey and but that was when James had snatched the bottle away and pointedly told her that she was about _three more birthdays away _before she could even come close to holding a single shot glass.

_Spoilsport. _Harry grumbled as she reached over and began gathering the empty glasses and bottles that lay scattered all around Sirius' sleeping form. As soon as she had cleared away all the trash, she rolled her eyes again but took out a blanket and draped it over her sleeping godfather.

After that, grabbing two small pillows from their tent and stepping back outside to where her father was lounging on the grass, Harry plopped down beside him and handed him one small pillow. James nodded his thanks at her and took the pillow from her hand, tucking it underneath his head.

They were quiet for a few minutes, both dark-haired Gryffindors staring off into the dark sky above them in speculative silence, and it wasn't until Sirius loud snore jolted Harry back from her thoughts did she manage to glance back at her father and reward him with a small, uncertain smile.

"Dad…?"

Averting his gaze from the cluster of stars in the dark sky above them, James raised his eyebrows in question and turned his head slightly to the side so that he could see Harry's expression.

"Yes, Prongslet?" He asked gently, his eyes light and his expression reassuring as he stared at her and watched as a dozen different emotions began flitting across her face. Finally, after a long moment of her concentrating on the grass near her feet, she lifted her gaze and met his eyes.

"Today was…really great. " Harry managed to blurt out, but even as the words tumbled out of her mouth, she thought they sounded ridiculous, so she spoke again to clarify herself. "I mean… I really had a fun time today with you and Sirius…It was my best birthday so far…Thank you for being here."

James' expression softened at her words, and when she stared uncertainly at him, he reached over, grabbing the younger Gryffindor by her neck and yanking her so that her head was nestled against the crook of his arm. "You silly dramatic _git…_Come here." He grinned at the sound of her laughter as he ruffled her hair. She lay down on the grass beside him, leaning her head tiredly against his shoulder.

They fell into another comfortable silence once more, and just as James was finally on the verge of falling into a deep, satisfying slumber, he felt Harry stir again, causing James to stifle a laughing groan.

"Dad…?"

Reluctantly opening his eyes, James smothered a laugh and hid a smile as he answered her.

"Yes, Prongslet…?"

Harry hesitated for a few seconds; frowning to herself as she finally asked the question she had been wanting to ask him, but had never been given the chance to, since the beginning of that summer.

"You…believe me…right….?" She asked him softly, meeting his eyes intently with her own.

Harry felt her father's form tense uneasily at her question, but before he was given the chance to answer, she spoke again, pulling her gaze away from him and staring up quietly at the dark night sky.

"About the third task… the dark lord…Everyone else thinks I'm crazy…But _you_ believe me…right?" She bit her lip and moved her gaze slowly to him again, watching the uncertainty flicker in James' face.

As she watched him expectantly, James didn't seem to want to answer her at all – and for a chilling second, Harry was almost afraid that he was going to get angry at her and brush her off. To her astonishment, however, James sighed softly and turned to meet her stare with a gentle one of his own.

"I believe that…_you _truly believe in what you're saying, Harry…" He chose his words carefully, and his tone was surprisingly patient. When his answer obviously didn't seem to satisfy Harry, he went on to explain himself further. "And I believe…that it was never in your nature to lie to anyone. Most especially to yourself…Most especially to _me…_"James paused again, and he slowly turned his head to the side so that his cheek was resting against the top of her head. "Now…I _know _you, Harry… I _know _that you would never deliberately hide anything from me…And I _know _that I can trust you to tell me the truth. Now…Honey…Please tell me _honestly._" James took another deep breath and closed his eyes as he spoke.

"Do you…in your heart… _truly _believe…that after _everything _Daddy has done in his power and ability to protect you…and to make sure nothing will ever hurt you again…Do you truly _believe _that the dark lord is alive…? Do you truly want to believe in something like that, Harry…?" He asked her softly.

Much to her frustration, Harry felt the familiar stinging of tears in the corners of her eyes at his words, but she held them back carefully and turned her face away so that he couldn't see her reaction. When James fell silent, however, and he seemed to be waiting patiently for her to speak, Harry swallowed the lump in her throat. Sighing, she forced herself to answer in a soft, barely audible whisper.

"I…I don't _want _to believe it either, Dad…But—"

James' hand tightened comfortingly around hers, silencing the rest of her words. With a small, relieved smile lighting up his exhausted features, he wrapped an arm tenderly around her again and hugged her against him, dropping a gentle kiss on the top of her head. In truth, Harry _wanted_ to say more to him – to try and convince him again that everything she saw in that graveyard was _real _and that the dark lord really _was _alive but James never gave her the chance, because he began to speak again.

"The night your mother died—" The former leader of the Marauders stilled at his own words, and for a long moment of awkward silence, Harry was worried that her father was going to brush the subject away, but to her surprise, he continued. "—I promised her that I would protect you always."

James paused again, and when he saw the sad expression that was beginning to form on Harry's face, he shook his head in dismay – as though suddenly ashamed of himself for bringing up the topic.

"I miss her, you know…" He told her quietly, and even without looking at the expression on his face, Harry could hear from the trembling in his voice that it was torturing him to even talk about it. "I think about her all the time, really…And how things might have been for her…For you…For us…If she were still alive." His voice broke, and Harry began to blink rapidly as tears started to form in her eyes.

"What was she like…?" She whispered quietly, and somehow, half of her was already expecting James to reject her vehemently for her question, but to her surprise, the Minister actually answered her.

"She was…" James sighed, and he tried to find the right words to say despite the horrible ache that was gnawing at his chest. "…Courageous…loyal…kind…She was…the _kindest…_gentlest… most beautiful woman I'd ever met…She was an angel…And for some strange, unfathomable reason I would never understand… She loved me." He managed a sad, broken smile at this, a single tear escaping the corner of his eye and managing to make its way down his cheek until it fell listlessly onto the cold grass.

Harry listened to his softly whispered words quietly, trying in vain to control the tears that were rapidly pooling in her eyes and threatening to spill down her cheeks. When she felt her father beginning to tremble, she turned and rested her cheek against his shoulder again, placing her hand on top of his.

"Do you think…that Mom…" Harry bit her lip and breathed in a deep, shaky intake of air before she forced herself to speak again, her voice barely above a whisper. "…would have been proud of me…?"

The minute he heard and understood her words, James turned to look at her slowly, and upon seeing the uncertainty in her expression, he reached down and slowly tilted her chin up to face him. When Harry stared back at him, he smiled gently at her and cupped her cheek, wiping away her tears.

"Lily would have been _very _proud of you, Harry…_Very _proud of you…There's nothing else that I am more certain about." James told her firmly, leaning down and tenderly dropping a kiss onto her hair. "And I know that if she were alive right now…She would have shown you that _every day _of her life."

At this point, Harry could no longer prevent the tears from flowing down her face, and James allowed her to cry against him, wrapping his arms gently around her smaller frame. Eventually, when her tears and muffled sniffles began to die down and Harry was finally able to stare up at the beautiful sunrise that was slowly unraveling above them, she heard her father whispering softly beside her.

"Happy birthday, Prongslet."

Harry closed her eyes and slowly leaned her head back down to rest against James' shoulder.

"I love you, Dad." She whispered, yawning sleepily before her eyes drifted close and she began to fall listlessly into a dreamless sleep. Beside her, James was still watching the sunrise unraveling above their heads. When the beautiful hues of orange began to fill the sky, he whispered quietly.

"I love you too, Harry..." James' eyes began to close slowly, and exhaustion began to creep onto his form as he continued to stare up at the sunrise with a small, sad smile. "And I love you…_Lily…"_

* * *

**A/N: **Aaw… I couldn't resist going off and sneaking in a sweet little father/daughter scene in this chapter. I just felt that Harry deserved a little break, considering everything that's been going on so far. Anyway, I _did _promise you guys in the last chapter that Umbridge would be coming soon – and she _will _arrive in the next chapter. Along with a few more surprises.*evil laughter*

Again, I apologize if I'm moving too fast. The DM/femHP romance IS coming, I promise. I just can't rush Harry into Draco's arms. She hasn't even fully matured yet, for Merlin's sake. Plus, she hasn't decided how she feels about Cedric either. Yes, Harry's still with him. Be patient. Bwahaha. (*sticks tongue out*).

**Next Chapter: **Dementors, Umbridge, Luna Lovegood, the train ride back to Hogwarts.

**PLEASE DON'T FORGET TO LEAVE A REVIEW, LOVELIES! CHEERS AND HAPPY NEW YEAR! ^_^**


	11. All About Honesty

**Harriet Potter and the Minister of Magic **

**Disclaimer:** I don't own Harry Potter or any of the characters you recognize from the HP books in this story. All I own is the plot. Everything else belongs to JK Rowling.

**Pairings**: DM/femHP (eventual). CD/femHP. RW/HG. BZ/GW. JP/LP (past). SS/LP (one-sided).

**Warnings:** Spoilers from canon (Books 4 to 7). Occasional time jumps from chapter to chapter. Mature content later on.

**Notes: ** At long last, after months of being MIA, I have finally returned with a new chapter! *insert a long round of cheering and dancing in here* Okay, first thing's first, let's get the usual routine out of the way – I would like to sincerely apologize for the incredibly long wait. But I have had the most horrible writer's block. This chapter actually took me weeks to write, I've been popping in and out of it whenever I could. The result was this incredibly _long _chapter that I hope will make up for my being away for so long. In any case, I won't keep you guys waiting anymore… Enjoy the chapter everyone!

* * *

**Chapter 11 – All About Honesty**

_She was standing right in the middle of an intricate maze of some sort, and it was dark as night._

_The more she walked down the aisle, the more the maze seemed to twist and turn even more until she could no longer remember where she came from. When she stopped, she stood in front of a large, sealed door, and when she touched it, it swung open, as though waiting for her to step inside._

_ Harry held her breath as she stepped through the doorway, but when she looked around; she saw nothing but a long narrow corridor stretching out before her. Cautiously, she followed the path, feeling more and more uneasy as her surroundings seemed to grow darker with each step she took._

_ Finally, when she made it to the end of the corridor, she frowned at what she saw – it was a tall, massive bookshelf that loomed above her – almost reaching the ceiling. Fusing her eyebrows together, she glanced up at the topmost shelf, blinking when something had sparkled and caught her attention._

_ It was a small, glass globe, slightly larger than a fist, and it seemed to glow a bright, eerie red for a moment before it faded out again. Curious, she tried to reach toward it– but when Harry realized that it was too dangerous to climb up the bookshelf herself, she got out her wand and tried to levitate the orb._

_ The glowing, crystal globe glimmered in the darkness, but it refused to move a single inch. Frowning, Harry raised her wand and pointed it at the globe again, and she tried to summon it instead._

_ When the globe refused to budge from the top of the bookshelf, Harry let out a sharp exhale of frustration and turned around, but then she gasped in shock. She saw a tall pale man with menacing red eyes staring back at her, an eerie look on his face. The man was a horrifying sight – he had a wide, maniacal smile, scaly skin, and right on the center of his face – where his nostrils would have been – were two small slits that served as his nose. He was hideous, and Harry began to back away from him, hastily turning around and attempting to run back to where she came from. When she looked up, she was stunned to realize the corridor had disappeared, and she turned around again – gazing helplessly with terror into the man's glowing red eyes. They seemed to pierce right through her like a sharp knife._

_ "Harry Potter…" It hissed, and the creature gave another loud, evil cackle before it suddenly reached out, grasping Harry by the front of her robes and lifting her up into the air until her feet dangled._

_ She screamed. _

* * *

Harry's eyes snapped open with a sharp, resounding gasp and she jerked awake, frantically scrambling up to her feet. It took her a few minutes to actually figure out where she was, however, but when she did, she gasped again and she turned to her side, relaxing slightly when she came upon the sight of her father sleeping quietly on the grass beside her. A few feet away from her, Sirius was also sprawled out on the grass and was snoring loudly, an empty bottle of whiskey discarded near his head.

_It was a nightmare…It was just a nightmare, Harry._ She told herself silently and she closed her eyes, breathing in and out a few times to make sure that her heartbeat was slowly returning to normal.

Sighing once more, she tried to forget the image of the red-eyed creature that was still burned into her mind. Though it took her a couple of minutes, her pulse slowed and she finally began to relax.

_It was a nightmare, Harry…Everything's fine._ She told herself again.

The sun hadn't risen yet that morning, and Harry stared up quietly into the dark hues of the sky in thought. After a long moment of silence, her thoughts began to wander, and pretty soon, she found herself thinking back on her relationship with her father – especially after their conversation last night.

She began to wonder more and more if being as docile as she was now was the right thing to do.

She thought back on what he had said earlier that night, and she sighed to herself again in exasperation as she considered everything that happened. After a few minutes, her features began to crease slowly into a frown and she couldn't help but flick her gaze over to her sleeping father in thought.

_If I can't convince him…How can I hope to convince anybody else? _

_ A_ soft, scuffling sound suddenly drew her attention, causing her to turn around and peer behind their tent. Curious, and somewhat wary considering it was practically three in the morning, Harry stood up from where she was lying down on the grass and began to make her way towards their large tent.

_Who in Merlin's name would be up at this hour? _She glanced around the small, grassy area.

From the corner of her eye, she caught a glimpse of a cloaked wizard running away from the campsite. Frowning, Harry shot a brief look over at her father and Sirius, and when she saw that both men were still fast asleep, she nodded resolutely to herself and quickly tore off after the cloaked wizard, her thoughts already drifting back to that Dark Mark incident during the Quidditch World Cup last year.

It took Harry a few more minutes to _find _the figure again and trail after it, but that was when she noticed that she had led herself right into a large, grassy clearing near the outskirts of the campsite. Belatedly realizing that she was _much _too far from anyone else to actually call for help in case anything happened – her heart began to race, and Harriet swallowed and slowly tried to make her way back.

Just as she was about to walk back over to their tent, however, the cloaked figure suddenly startled her when he reached into the pocket of his robes and pulled out a wand, pointing it directly up at the sky. From here, Harry panicked, and thinking exactly of the Quidditch World Cup incident that happened last year, she reacted instinctively by gasping and racing as fast as she could towards the man.

_"NO! STOP!" _She shouted angrily, and luckily, the sudden sound of her voice surprised the cloaked figure long enough so that he was temporarily distracted, allowing Harry the opportunity to race right up to him and knock his wand out of his hand. Growling, the cloaked man evaded her attempt to tackle himto the floor and twisted himself around her, snatching his wand back up from the ground.

"_NO! COME BACK HERE! YOU WON'T GET AWAY FROM ME!" _Harry raged, chasing after him as he ran across the field and began heading towards the outskirts of the campsite. For a second, Harry considered falling back – as her father would _surely _go ballistic on her again when he woke up and realized that Harry had run off. Then again, she had a _very_ strong suspicion that this was the same man who had cast the Dark Mark in the Quidditch World Cup last year, and she _really_ wanted him locked up.

_"Damn it!" _Harry cursed as looked up and saw that the cloaked man had managed to disappear from her line of sight just as they had entered a shadowy forest by the end of the field. Exhausted, Harry stopped just by the entrance to the dark forest and rested her hands on her knees to catch her breath.

. When she straightened about a few seconds later, Harry glanced towards the direction the cloaked man had run off to again and frowned, sighing and tucking her wand back into her pocket.

_I lost him…_She scowled and slowly began to make her way back towards the campsite. _And as always, if I tell the Ministry about this…They'll say I'm a lying, attention-craving basket case. _Harriet thought angrily to herself, sighing and trudging silently across the field back towards the Quidditch site.

It wasn't long before she reached the same clearing she had come from, but just as she was about to turn and head back to where their tent was, another slight flicker of movement caught her attention. Narrowing her eyes, she shifted her gaze and nearly gasped when she saw another cloaked figure nearby – shadowy and floating eerily towards her – but unfortunately, it wasn't a man this time.

It was a _dementor._

As it swooped down on her, Harry _screamed _– long and shrill – and unfortunately, _that _had been a _very _wrong move because then, the dementor had jerked sharply and began heading faster for her. It flew swiftly and sharply through the air, descending upon Harry's pale, quivering form. Gasping in horror, she nearly stumbled backwards in panic as she dug her hand through her pockets in search of her wand.

_"Expecto Patronum!" _She sputtered out weakly, pointing her wand directly at the dementor's looming form. She managed a choked gasp of relief when a thick silver vapor erupted from her wand. The vapor began to form itself into the shape of a large, handsome stag – it gave a proud gallop before it began charging towards the dementor, driving it away until it was heading for the opposite direction.

Still gasping for breath, Harry collapsed onto her knees and watched weakly as her patronus tackled the dementor, piercing its antlers through its dark, billowy cloak. Before long, the dementor whirled around and began charging again – sidetracking her patronus entirely and heading straight for her. From the corner of her eye, she caught a glimpse of her stag speeding for her but it was too late – the dementor was descending upon her, and Harry fell on the ground, closed her eyes and _screamed._

* * *

James Potter gasped and jerked awake, blinking and searching frantically around him.

One _week _had passed since the incident at the Quidditch Cup during Harry's birthday – and he was in the conference room because he had just come from an afternoon meeting with a mob of media agents, reporters and journalists that day. Afterwards, Peter had allowed James a twenty minute reprieve before his next meeting and James decided to stay in the conference room to take a short nap.

Admittedly, his nap took more than twenty minutes, and James closed his eyes and tried to quell the fear from his chest again as images of his constant nightmares began to flood his thoughts.

_It was a nightmare…Harry's fine…She's safe at home with Father…Everything is alright. Nothing happened to her during the Quidditch Cup. _He told himself, reaching over with shaking fingers and taking a sip from his cup of tea nearby. By now, the tea had gone cold, but James barely noticed as he took another languid sip and closed his eyes, waiting patiently until his breathing had returned to normal.

Laid out on the large mahogany table in front of him, about a dozen newspapers were spread out – all of which had Harry's picture pasted right on the front cover. That entire _week _had been a nightmare really, with James and Peter dealing with all _sorts _of renewed media interest in Harry and on how she had been caught screaming and throwing a fit in middle of the Quidditch camp site that night.

Truth be told, James felt fully, or at least _partially, _at fault for the entire incident – as he had fallen asleep and had let Harry wander off alone like that. In fact, all James remembered that night was that after he and Harry had fallen asleep, he had woken up a couple of hours later to the chilling sound of Harry's terrified screaming, and he and Sirius had both rushed toward the direction of the sound.

They eventually found her, pale, shivering, and barely conscious, sprawled out on one of the grassy fields just near the outskirts of the campsite. Choking with fear, James had fallen to his knees, and the first thing he checked for was for her pulse – and he was relieved to find one, however weak it was.

When Sirius woke her up with an 'enervate' spell, and both men caught a glimpse of the crazed, wild look of terror in Harry's wide green eyes, James _knew _that something was very wrong. Soon enough, even as Sirius was trying to help her back up off the ground, Harry began screaming shrilly at them, trembling violently as all sorts of rants, words, and incoherent mumbling came rushing out of her mouth.

* * *

***FLASHBACK***

_"A DEMENTOR! DEMENTOR TRIED TO K–KILL ME!" _She gasped, and when James and Sirius tried to reach for her hands to stop them from trembling, she yanked them away and screamed again. "_A MAN WAS HERE! HE WAS RIGHT HERE–THERE! THERE, I SAW HIM! HE W–WANTED TO… RUN…I…TRIED…"_

"Harry!" Sirius placed both of his hands on her shoulders and jostled her, his eyes wide as he bent down to look into her eyes. "_Please, _sweetheart! _Tell _us what you saw! We can't understand a word you're saying, we don't know what's happening to you!" He tried to tell her but Harry just stared at him with wide eyes, her face pale and her frame trembling as she wrapped her arms around herself.

_"A DEATH EATER…HE…WAS THERE…AND I–I TRIED…BUT A DEMENTOR…DEMENTOR WAS–" _She stopped and a sob escaped her lips as she broke down entirely and tears began pooling in her eyes. "_I TRIED TO FIGHT BACK…BUT I COULDN'T…AND I SCREAMED AND IT FLEW–" _She shook her head fiercely.

"_Harry!" _James moved over and grasped her firmly by the shoulder, turning her towards him and cupping her face with both hands so that she was staring at his face. "_What _did you see? What's wrong, sweetheart? You _have _to tell me! I can't protect you if you don't tell me! Please, honey–" He cut himself off when Harry just shook her head again and began sobbing even more. Without saying anything, she buried her face into James' shoulder, trembling and muffling her soft cries against him.

_"I c–can still hear her crying in my head, Dad…Mom was…screaming…_" Her voice broke again and her sobs intensified as James wrapped his arms tightly around her, both his hands shaking horribly.

_This _image –a panic-driven Harry sobbing hysterically in James' arms – was the very picture that was splashed out in practically every newspaper in the country the following morning – along with new articles about how the Minister's daughter made another spectacle of herself during the Quidditch Exhibition Match. James had absolutely _no _control over this, nor did he have any control over Rita Skeeter criticizing him _again _for being a horrible parent. The newspapers had then begun to write about how Harry Potter was slowly heading towards a permanent room in the psychiatric ward of St. Mungo's.

James and Sirius _had _brought Harry to St. Mungo's that night, but mostly just to treat her injuries and to make sure that she wasn't suffering from any post traumatic stress. After a few hours, Remus and Peter rushed into the room to join them, but when Harry had finally calmed down enough to explain to them everything that had happened, Peter had reacted by exclaiming that she was crazy.

"So what are you suggesting, Peter?" Remus had asked him calmly at that, although James had seen the unmistakable look of anger that was beginning to glimmer in Remus' normally calm brown eyes.

"I'm _suggesting–" _Peter paused and shot a look at Harry again, meeting the angry glare she was giving him with a derisive sneer. "–that maybe we ought to think about getting her some _serious _help!"

"Are you calling my goddaughter a liar?! What if she's actually telling the truth?!" Sirius had raged at him in retaliation, drawing Peter's attention away from Harry for a minute as he glared at him. "I _looked _into the Ministry records; Peter…There _was _a dementor around the grounds that night. It was supposed to be following a predetermined path, just so it could protect the Quidditch grounds against intruders. It _wasn't _supposed to be anywhere _near _Harry! What if she's telling the truth?!" He snapped.

"That just means she was wandering around areas she wasn't supposed to!" Peter retaliated.

"You cocky, obnoxious bastard!" Sirius raged at him, his eyes growing as wide with fury.

"Are you saying you _believe _her?!"

"She's my _goddaughter! _I owe her at _least _to try and find out!"

The three men had argued some more after that, and all of their shouts had begun to escalate around the small white room so much that James closed his eyes. He fell back against one of the chairs beside Harry's bed and buried his face into his hands. Beside him, Harry was watching the three men arguing in front of her in silence, her eyes wide as she flicked her gaze back and forth between them.

Sirius had withdrawn his glare from Peter for a few seconds to shoot James an accusing look – maybe because of the fact that James had not said a word since the minute they entered St. Mungo's. When the Minister gave him a pained grimace, Sirius cursed under his breath and turned back to Peter.

"The only thing we should be _'finding out' _is how long a normal treatment session would be if we enrolled Harry for help here in St. Mungo's!" Peter snarled, his eyes flashing as he glared up at Sirius.

"_I'M NOT CRAZY!" _ Harry screamed furiously at him, but her reaction was drowned out by the way James' face suddenly darkened with rage. Ignoring Remus' quelling looks, he growled and lunged menacingly towards Peter. "Are you suggesting we _confine _her in the _psychiatric ward?!" _James seethed.

For a second, Peter looked shocked at James' sudden intrusion, but he recovered himself quickly and glared back at him. "That is _exactly _what I'm suggesting! The Ministry officers have made it clear–"

_**WHAM!**_

Harry jerked at the sound of a fist connecting with a jaw and she shot her head up in alarm, watching in belated shock as Peter stumbled backwards at the force of Sirius' punch and collapsed against the cart filled with medicinal potions behind him. At the sounds of breaking glass that followed, James had chosen not to say anything else, and instead, he covered his face again and closed his eyes.

***END OF FLASHBACK***

* * *

"James? Have you been here since your meeting this morning?"

Looking up, James broke away from his inner musings and found himself staring into the concerned, equally exhausted face of Remus Lupin just as the werewolf was entering the Ministry conference room. Sighing and looking away, James nodded quietly and took another sip from his teacup.

"Yeah, I…fell asleep." He admitted, looking up again and watching as Remus took the seat on the opposite site of the table. "That meeting really took it out of me. You know how reporters are." He tried to kid, but Remus didn't smile. Instead, the other man looked carefully at him and gave him an odd look.

"You look like shit, Prongs."

Blinking, James looked up at the sound of his old childhood nickname and met Remus' concerned eyes carefully, noting the way the other man was staring at him with a hint of sympathy in his expression. Smirking weakly in agreement, James sighed heavily and stared at the teacup in his hand.

"That's something…coming from a werewolf." He tried to kid again, but Remus just stared back quietly at him. Then, shaking his head, the werewolf sighed and leaned against the backrest of his seat.

"I mean it." Remus arched an eyebrow and eyed the other man carefully. "You look like hell."

James sighed at this, saying nothing for a few minutes as he stared at his teacup again. Then, after a long moment of awkward silence, he finally looked up at Remus again and gave him a grim smile.

"Remus…Am I…" He paused and turned the teacup in his hand several times, watching intently as the liquid sloshed around before he lifted his eyes again and stared solemnly at the other man.

"Am I a bad father…?" James asked him quietly.

Blinking, though not at all looking startled at the gravity of James' question, Remus stared back silently at him – as though considering his answer. He gave James a slow but firm shake of his head.

"You're _not _a bad father, James…Or at least–" He paused and amended his statement when James responded by scoffing and giving him a disbelieving sneer. "–you don't _mean _to be." He told him.

When James looked as though he wanted to react, Remus spoke again and cut him off.

"_No one _really prepares you for how hard it is to raise a child, you know…Much less to raise one by _yourself…_ And despite everything else, your daughter loves you….You can still fix things." He told him, but at this, James just shook his head again and let out a frustrated sigh as he stood up from his seat.

"That's just _it! _I feel like I'm responsible for the way Harry's been acting these past few days!" He raged at himself, and without waiting for Remus to respond, he let out a sharp exhale and trudged over to the window at the end of the room. "Maybe…I don't know! Maybe if I had just listened to her more…Or maybe if I spent more time with her, _maybe _I'd be able to understand her! But now…" James raised his fist and punched the wall beside the window, ignoring the sharp pain that shot up his knuckles.

"I feel like I'm just…fighting a losing battle…You know? I feel like I'm just…losing her…and that my daughter is slowly drifting further and further away from me… And I don't know how to stop it." James turned around again and met Remus' gaze with a grim smile. "She hasn't spoken a single word to me since that night…Did you know that? She's locked herself up in her room and refuses to see me."

"Prongs–" Remus tried to interrupt him again but James continued.

"I feel like…I _screwed _up being a father to my own child…I don't know what to do anymore, Remus. I don't know to fix things…I don't know how to help her." James admitted. He walked back over to the head of the large conference table and collapsed into his seat, covering his face with his hands.

Remus had nothing to say at this, and instead, both men fell into a long, uncomfortable silence that was broken only when the doors to the conference room burst open. Startled, both men looked up, watching silently as Peter, a small, round woman and a whole horde of aurors came rushing into the room. James eyed the entourage, and when he turned his gaze towards Peter, he nodded in greeting.

"Good day to you, Minister. I believe we have a meeting scheduled for this afternoon?" He mentioned, and when James nodded curtly at this, Peter turned to Remus and gave him a sharp look. "Remus, if you will be so kind as to shut the door on your way out." He told him pointedly, and that was all the indication Remus needed. He sighed and got up, nodding at James and walking out of the room.

As soon as he was gone, Peter walked over to James and gestured to the woman behind him, meeting the Minister's bored glance with a smirk. "Minister, I believe you're already familiar with Dolores Umbridge? She's your current Senior Undersecretary, but under the circumstances, you two have not officially met. She actually works under me and I'm the one who transacts directly with you–"

"I know who she is, Pettigrew. Carry on." James interrupted impatiently.

Peter nodded at James' dismissal and turned pointedly to Dolores.

"Dolores, you already know the Minister of Magic–" He began, but even before Peter finished talking, Dolores had already stepped forward and thrust her hand towards James with a wide smile.

"Oh silly you, of _course _I do! It is a _joy _to be working directly under you at last, Minister. I am an avid _fan _of yours… And I have to say… I am honored that you would consider me for this important responsibility." She gushed, but when James seemed too stunned by her overly cheerful introduction and the way she was grasping his hand very tightly, Dolores continued and smiled brightly at him again.

"Before anything else, I would like to assure you, my dear Minister… That your lovely daughter is in _safe _and very _capable _hands." Dolores' eyes gleamed and her smile widened as she used her free hand and placed it over her chest. "–I will look after Harriet as if she were my _own _child." She cooed.

At this, James could not prevent the grimace from forming on his face as he arched an eyebrow awkwardly at her again and promptly tried to wrench his hand away from the woman's death grip.

"Peter." His eyes narrowed impatiently and he flicked his gaze towards Peter again, ignoring Umbridge's slightly disappointed expression when James finally managed to retract his hand from her. When Peter glanced back sheepishly at him, James arched an eyebrow again and drawled in annoyance.

"Haven't I told you that you are not authorized to make _any _decisions without _my _consent?!"

Without waiting for his answer, James turned to Dolores again and sneered at her in anger.

"Why is she here? And what in Merlin's name is she talking about – exactly _what _is it that she has been assigned to do and what does it have to do with me and my daughter?" He demanded angrily.

Dismayed, Peter gave him an uneasy smile before he turned slowly to the other aurors gathered around the room and gestured for them to take their seats. "Er…Yes…About that, James… That's actually why I called this meeting with you this afternoon. If you'll take your seat, I'll explain everything to you–"

_"Hem. Hem." _

Blinking awkwardly, both James and Peter paused in the middle of their conversation and slowly turned their heads until they were both staring blankly at Dolores Umbridge's wide, saccharine smile.

"…Er…Dolores?" James arched an eyebrow at her, involuntarily taking a step back when Dolores took another step toward him and smiled widely before she insistently ushered James back into his seat.

"Minister…If I _may _interrupt…." She didn't bother waiting for either of the two men's answer as she purposefully sat herself down onto the seat adjacent to James and began to sort through the stack of papers in her arms. "I realize that we have already prepared an agenda for today's meeting, but I would like to begin by reporting to you the medical results by St. Mungo's on your daughter last week."

Momentarily too stunned to say anything else, James could only watch as Dolores began rifling through the papers one by one. She spoke to James again just as Peter took the seat across hers. "In particular, Minister… We have found that young Harriet has been exposed to a rather _unhealthy _amount of stress during the last few years…With those last two fiascos concerning the sorcerer's stone and the chamber of secrets and all…Not to mention the attempted attack on her by that horrible madman Barty Crouch last year." She began, and as she said all this, all the aurors around them nodded in agreement.

James frowned and he shook his head at her in confusion. "Harry _has_ been under a lot of stress lately. But she has _always _been able handle that kind of thing, I _raised _her that way. Dolores, I don't really need you giving me advice about my own daughter–" He was cut off when Dolores spoke again.

"_Furthermore…_I have reason to suspect that, just as it was portrayed in all those articles that came out last year, your daughter may be exposing herself to bad crowds…Associating herself with _dangerous _people in school." With that, Dolores' eyes narrowed slowly and she turned to sneer at Peter.

"Dangerous people?" The concern in James' voice was evident this time as he stared at Dolores in question. "What kind of dangerous people are you talking about? Why do I not know this?" He asked.

Dolores shifted her gaze back to James and answered him with another saccharinely sweet smile. "_Dangerous _people, Minister Potter… Our young Harriet is very naïve and clueless about stuff like this, after all… And we can't blame her. But we have reports from our eyes in Hogwarts that your daughter was seen talking to suspicious, anti-Ministry people. Severus Snape. Lucius Malfoy. Albus Dumbledore–"

"Albus Dumbledore?" James' frown deepened at this and he shook his head fiercely at Dolores' suspicions. "Snape and Malfoy, I can agree with you. But I refuse to believe that Albus Dumbledore is conspiring against me and the Ministry, Dolores. Dumbledore is _not _our enemy. That's just _crazy–" _

"Oh Minister." Dolores gave him a sympathetic smile and shook her head. "Do Dumbledore's lies deceive you as well? Have you forgotten how he sided with Grindelwald and fought for wizard supremacy over muggles? Is it not this very same idea of 'wizard supremacy' that has guided the Dark Lord and his Death Eaters into the First Wizarding War? Can we trust him?" She pointed out soothingly.

James blinked and stared at her in dismay for a few seconds before he shifted his gaze to Peter. "I don't think Dumbledore's likely to make that same mistake twice. But…Nevertheless, you make an excellent point, Dolores. But I just don't see how watching Dumbledore has anything to do with Harry–"

"He _believes _that the Dark Lord is alive, Minister. He intentionally disrespects us by goading Harry on and telling the school that he believes the Dark Lord is back! It's like he called us liars! How's that for a knife in the back?!" Peter seethed, and for emphasis, he slammed his fist against the table.

"Perhaps…But I still don't think his actions are worth censoring–"

_ "Hem. Hem." _

They all turned to look at Dolores again and she smiled cheerfully at James before she moved on to the next item in her report. "Furthermore…Minister…I _also _have reason to believe that we must start monitoring very _closely _your daughter's interaction with Lucius Malfoy's son." She told him bluntly.

"Draco?" James' eyebrows arched up in surprise and he couldn't help scoffing and shaking his head. "That kid is hardly a threat. Besides, Harry hates him and already avoids him like the plague."

"On the contrary, Minister…My research suggests that your young daughter has been harboring a somewhat…strange fascination with the boy. It is something that we must monitor very closely." Dolores told him, nodding before she gathered the documents again and folded her hands together. "With all of that in mind, Peter and I now have an important proposition for you." She offered primly.

James' eyes began to narrow very slowly at her words.

"Go on."

Dolores smiled, and James could have sworn that there was a gleam of excitement in her eyes.

"With _your _authorization…I shall be teaching in Hogwarts. I will be your directly appointed official. Your representative." Her smile widened and she stood up straighter in her seat. "And I will make it my very _own _personal responsibility to look after Harry for you while she is at school, Minister… I will promise you that I will make sure she has no more traumatic experiences that will result in another one of those breakdown episodes like what happened in that Quidditch Camp." She explained slowly.

James' jaw clenched at her words. "My apologies, Dolores. But I do not like the idea of hiring an official solely for watching over Harry at school. In fact, I may be stifling her too much already as it is–"

"Minister, I _insist _that you reconsider this carefully." Peter suddenly cut him off, drawing everyone's attention to his grim look. "You _and _your daughter are both iconic figures right now. We can _not _afford to have either of you tainted by bad influences or ideas." He explained in a tense voice.

Thoroughly annoyed with their persistence at this point, James' expression hardened and he ignored both Peter and Dolores' reactions as he began gathering his things and rising from his seat.

"My answer is _no, _Peter. That's final. Adjourned." He addressed the aurors around them with a curt nod before he turned and began heading towards the door. Just as he was reaching for the handle, however, he heard Peter speaking again, and the strange tone of his voice made James freeze in place.

"I'm very sorry to hear that, James." Shaking his head, Peter rose from his seat – and James couldn't help but narrow his eyes at him in confusion when the smaller man began walking toward him. "To be honest, I didn't want to have to do this. In fact, I never really _had _a reason to do this until now… But I'm afraid you give me no choice." Peter's eyes gleamed maliciously as he looked up, meeting James' tense expression with a particularly wide smile. "After all…Desperate times call for desperate measures."

"Peter what are you talking about? Dolores?" James had noticed the way Peter was beginning to draw his wand. Instinctively, he was about to reach for his own wand when, to his horror, one of the large, burly aurors seated nearby had suddenly stood up and grabbed both of James' arms from behind.

"_PETTIGREW, WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU DOING?!" _James' face was pale with shock and betrayal.

Smiling widely, Peter pointed his wand directly at James' struggling figure.

_"IMPERIO."_

* * *

"Harry, how many times do I have to tell you that it's _rude _to not look at people when they're talking to you? Now, chin up. Let me see you." Augustus ignored the exasperated glare on his granddaughter's face as he reached out and adjusted her collar. He ignored the amused muggles passing by as he folded Harry's collar neatly around her neck and tried to smooth out the wrinkles in her blouse.

Grumbling and moodily kicking at an innocent pebble on the ground, Harry forced herself to stop in the middle of Kings Cross station and looked up to meet her grandfather's irritated expression.

"Your blouse is a little untucked…And blimey, Harry…Haven't I told you a thousand times to comb your hair?" He admonished lightly but at his words, Harry's scowl just deepened and she growled.

"I _did _comb my hair. Stop _fussing _over me, Grandfather! I'm _not _a kid anymore!" She couldn't help snapping as she pushed his hands lightly away and cut him off by grabbing her trunk from his hands. "Now was there anything else you wanted to criticize about me before I go?" She added with a glare.

At the sarcastic tone of her voice, Augustus' eyes narrowed slowly at her in reproach. Shaking his head, he stopped walking and rested his cane against the floor, glaring pointedly at her from where the two of them stopped just a few meters away from the barrier between Platform 9 and Platform 10.

"You know…I don't appreciate your tone of voice, Harry–" He noticed the way Harry's eyes had flashed, and the way the young Gryffindor had looked as though she wanted to say something else but he continued before she was given the chance. "–the way you've been acting this past week, snapping and practically shouting at everyone…You make it seem as though your father and I are the ones at fault here… We understand that you're acting out because you're traumatized but we want to help you–"

"_I AM NOT DOING THIS TO 'ACT OUT'_!" Harry exploded, drawing the stunned glances of the other students who were making their way towards the barrier leading to the Hogwarts Express.

Augustus seemed taken back at her reaction and as he stared at her in affronted shock.

Harriet didn't bother waiting for his response; however, as she turned, snatched Hedwig's cage from her stunned grandfather and stormed right through the train barrier. Behind her, she thought she heard Augustus' angry voice calling angrily after her and demanding that she apologize for her outburst but she ignored him and quickened her pace instead, heading directly for the main entrance of the train.

When she got there, Harry quickly began making her way through the crowded interior of the Hogwarts Express, pointedly refusing to respond to any of the greetings she got from her housemates. Within a few minutes, she managed to secure herself an empty compartment near the very back of the train and she entered without another word, dropping her trunk beside her and plopping into the seat.

After yanking the curtains closed over the windows, she sighed, closed her eyes and leaned back against the seat for a long, dreamless sleep. When she woke up about an hour later, she squinted her eyes open at the sound of all the familiar voices of her friends seated around her in the compartment.

"…_heard who's supposed to be our Herbology Professor?"_

"_Why, what happened to Professor Sprout?"_

"_I heard she's on sabbatical. Won't be back until next year."_

"_Oh really…? Have you guys heard about who they're planning to hire for DADA this year?"_

Keeping her eyes closed, Harry shifted in her seat and interrupted Ron's response with a sleepy grumble. "I don't actually care…As long as it's not a deranged death eater who tries to kill me again." She pointed out, and just as she was waking up, she heard a few of their hearty laughs around the room.

Reluctantly, Harry sat up in her seat and opened her eyes, blinking sleepily as she recognized Ron, Hermione, and Neville seated across from her. She glared blankly at them, narrowing her eyes, but before she was able to say anything, however, Ron spoke up and he rewarded her with an uncertain grin.

"You alright there, mate?" Ron asked, but he couldn't help wincing at her answering glare.

Harry didn't answer his question and stared back at him for a long moment, purposely making the redheaded Gryffindor shift uncomfortably in his seat. After a few more awkward minutes, Neville decided to break the tension by clearing his throat. "So…How was your summer vacation, Harry?"

He tried to ask with a friendly smile, though he faltered when Harry just gave him a stony look.

Neville tried to speak again. "I know we weren't able to write that often–"

"Write often?" She interrupted curtly, shifting her glare from Neville's apologetic grimace to Ron and Hermione's cringing features. "You didn't answer _any _of my letters this summer, Neville. In fact, not _one _of you responded to me. Not a single one of you. Would you care to explain?" Harry pointed out.

She didn't wait for their response as she turned to Hermione and arched an eyebrow. "I wrote about a _dozen _letters to you this summer, Hermione…Asking you to send me a copy of the Daily Prophet. I explained to you in _all _those letters that Peter has been filtering the newspapers around our house–"

"I don't get a copy of the Daily Prophet regularly either, Harry." Hermione tried to reason but her words accomplished nothing but make Harry even angrier and explode at her with a vicious snarl.

"_YOU HAVE A SUBSCRIPTION DON'T YOU?!" _She seethed, causing Hermione to jump in alarm.

"Okay, Harry. That's _enough._" Neville suddenly cut her off, drawing everyone's attention back to him. "In truth, _all _of us wanted to write back to you this summer. But we just couldn't risk those letters being intercepted or sent to the wrong hands given the delicate situation now." He explained carefully.

"Given the…_situation?_" Harry raised an eyebrow at this and she stared at him, nonplussed.

"We–" Hermione paused and thought for a few minutes. "–we just didn't want you stressing over things that aren't important. I mean…._all _of the things that Rita Skeeter said were rubbish anyway."

"She said you were 'bewitched' by Death Eaters into believing the Dark Lord is alive…Or that you may be orchestrating this entire 'trying to get Dad's attention' ploy a little too far." Neville told her.

"_I HAVEN'T BEEN BEWITCHED! I'M TELLING THE GODDAMN TRUTH!" _She exploded at him, and before any of them could react, she stood up from her seat and loomed over them. "_I CAN'T BELIEVE WE'RE STILL DEBATING OVER THIS ISSUE! I THOUGHT YOU WERE MY FRIENDS!" _She shouted at them.

"It's not that simple." Ron looked pained as he spoke up. "We couldn't write to you over the summer…because we–" He gestured to Hermione, Neville, and himself, and shrugged sheepishly at her. "We've joined the Order of the Phoenix." He finished softly, pausing and waiting for Harry's reaction.

The green-eyed Gryffindor just stared back blankly at him.

Ron bristled and seemed to pause for a few seconds to gather his thoughts. "It's an underground non-Ministry organization in Europe established by Dumbledore. Its main purpose is to–"

"Wait…Are you saying that you guys joined a group against the Ministry of Magic?!" Harry asked in shock, her voice cracking slightly in disbelief but Hermione just shook her head firmly and answered.

"The Order of the Phoenix is _not _a political group, Harry…Nor is it against the Ministry of Magic or your father in any way. To be honest, this was also the reason we couldn't talk to you about it at first, the Order of the Phoenix is an anti-Death Eater movement led by Dumbledore." She explained slowly.

Harry continued to stare at her, still confused.

"The Order believes that the Death Eaters are back – and they're here to make sure that _some _people are going to be doing something about it." Neville added, but when Harry continued to look at him in disbelief, he continued. "Of course…For obvious reasons… We couldn't ask you to join the Order, nor could we have told you… you're the Minister's daughter. It'll be dangerous for you." He admitted.

"Stop." Harry cut him off with a worried frown and shook her head. "So you guys are telling me…that the reason you ignored _all _my letters this summer was because…you're part of a non-Ministry organization set up by Dumbledore to fight against Voldemort?" She didn't wait for any of them to respond before she exclaimed in shock. "So why didn't Dumbledore just talk to my Dad and try to convince _him? _Why set up an entirely new organization separate from the Ministry?!" She demanded.

"Harry." Hermione began, wincing. "Peter and your father spent this entire summer fighting to convince everyone that there was nothing to worry about. The Ministry movement is to suppress any talk of war or of the Dark Lord. Dumbledore just sit didn't want to sit back and not do anything about it anymore" She explained, and if anything, her explanation made Harry's frown deepen even more.

"So…the Order of the Phoenix is against the Death Eaters?"

"Yes."

"So does it also support the Ministry of Magic?"

"Well…_no…_Not really."

"I think it's _ridiculous _that they won't let me join the Order simply because I'm the Minister's daughter. In case you've all forgotten, _I'm _the one who saw the Dark Lord alive!" Harry snapped at them.

Hermione opened her mouth to respond but Neville suddenly cut in again. "Harry, we've already risked our _own _membership telling you this. We can't jeopardize the safety of the other members of the Order by telling you and risking that the Ministry finds out. Please try to understand our situation here."

"Who's in it? Can I rightly assume your father is in it, Ron…Isn't he?" Harry's expression hardened as she turned to her cringing redheaded friend. "Is there anyone _else _in the Ministry in it?!"

"Harry." Ron's expression looked strained as he answered her. "We just _can't _tell you–"

"You don't trust me?" Harry's jaw tightened and she narrowed her eyes at them again. "You said you believed me about the Dark Lord. Yet, neither of you trusted me enough to tell me about this sooner. I don't understand. I think it's all just political bullshit. If you're not going to help me, then I swear, I'll find someone who _will._" She hissed, causing Ron to wince again and shake his head frantically.

"Harry, this is for your own protection–"

"_I don't need protection!_" Harry growled, ignoring Ron, Neville, and Hermione's expressions as she hopped off her seat. "I just want someone who's willing to be _honest _with me for once! I thought, as my friends, you guys would tell me the truth!" After grabbing her trunk and grabbing her wand and invisibility cloak, she shot the other Gryffindors a dark glare before storming out of the compartment.

She heard their pleading protests echoing after her as she stalked through the train's corridors but she didn't turn back, not even when she heard Hermione beginning to chastise Ron and Neville about having opened up the topic of the Order of the Phoenix in the first place. After searching through the other crowded compartments for a few minutes, Harry found one near the very end of the train – which was occupied by a single student - a pale Ravenclaw girl with blonde hair and bright blue eyes.

"Hey there." Taking a deep breath, Harry managed to calm her voice as she entered the compartment. "Sorry to disturb you…But everywhere else is full. Would you mind if I sit with you the rest of the way?" She asked, causing Luna Lovegood to nod and offer her a dazed smile as she sat down.

"It would be a pleasure, Harry." She responded easily before she turned back to her magazine.

"So…" Harry began awkwardly, setting her invisibility cloak down and staring uncertainly at the magazine in Luna's hands. Luna lifted her blue eyes up slowly from her magazine and met Harry's gaze.

"Isn't that the Quibbler? I heard your readership is up these days…My Dad has a subscription, you know. I think your articles are…interesting." Harry noted, smiling as she assessed Luna's strange attire – the younger girl was wearing a necklace of butterbeer caps around her neck, and she had stuck her wand behind her left ear. Not to mention the fact that she was reading her magazine upside down.

_You're not exactly a fashion expert yourself, Potter. _Harry chastised to herself, hiding an amused smile as she let her eyes drift down to the unkempt blouse and skirt that she was wearing that morning.

"We're actually on our fifth year of printing now. Thank you, Harry. That's sweet of you to say so." Luna turned a single page of her magazine before holding a small bag of something up to Harry. "Lizard Licorice? It's quite good." She offered, but Harry tried very hard not to wince and shook her head.

"No thank you, Luna."

"I hope there's pudding for dinner, don't you? I like pudding." Luna mentioned idly before turning another page of her magazine. "You should be careful by the way, Harry. Nargles were flying around in the compartment before you came in – some of them are hiding under your seat." She added.

Fighting to keep a neutral expression on her face, Harry shifted uncomfortably and wrapped her arms around herself as she glanced around the compartment. "I'll keep that in mind, Luna. Thank you."

Thankfully, they spent the most of the train ride back to Hogwarts in silence – broken only by Luna's occasional turning of her magazine or the way the strange Ravenclaw girl seemed to have the strange habit jangling her necklace noisily or rolling up her magazine and swatting at the train walls.

For her part, having already met Luna last year during one of her dad's parties, Harry pretended to ignore most of Luna's antics and spent her time staring blankly out of the train window. Unfortunately, as the silence of the compartment began to sink in more and more, she reluctantly began to reflect back on the argument that she had just had with her three best friends a few minutes ago.

She was absolutely _furious _with their refusal to tell her the truth about the Order of the Phoenix. If anything, their admission about it now only made Harry feel more compelled to know more about it.

_I have to find out who the members are in the Order…Maybe they can help me convince my Dad that I'm not having a nervous breakdown! _She thought to herself, her mind already whirring with ideas.

_If Ron is part of the Order…Then there's a big chance that his Dad and the other Weasleys are members of the order too. But then, if Ron's dad is in the order, I wonder who the other Ministry members in it are. I can't believe they'd actually choose to side against my Dad. _Harry thought worriedly.

Unfortunately, just as Harry was on the verge of figuring out what she had to do next, the doors to the compartment door began to open again. Halting her thoughts, Harry lifted her gaze from the spot she had been oh-so-passionately glaring at on the floor and looked up. When she heard the familiar drawling voice of the person about to enter, she froze. She'd recognize that smug voice anywhere.

"I'm telling you, she's _in _here, Goyle! I've searched the whole bloody train already for the git–"

Stifling a squeak of alarm, Harry turned a panicked, pleading expression to Luna before she grabbed her cloak, tossed it over herself, and cowered backwards against her seat in silence. Sure enough, as soon as the double doors slid open, a sneering Draco Malfoy peered his head into the compartment, his narrowed eyes skimming the small area carefully before his glare rested on Luna.

"You. Loony Lovegood." He gestured for Crabbe and Goyle to stay outside behind him before he addressed Luna again. "You haven't seen Potter around by any chance, have you?" He demanded rudely.

Luna's gaze drifted slowly to Harry in the opposite seat, and her expression was so neutral that for a minute, Harry almost thought that she was going to turn her in. To her surprise, however, Luna just retracted her gaze and turned to stare dazedly at Draco again before offering the Slytherin a quiet smile.

"_Harry _Potter?" She asked innocently.

Draco glared at her as though she was the stupidest person on the planet.

"There's only _one _bloody person in this stupid school with that same name, Lovegood. Now quit being an idiot and answer me!" He snapped, ignoring Crabbe and Goyle guffawing loudly behind him.

"I'm not sure, Malfoy…Maybe you should go and ask the Gryffindors." Luna replied easily.

"Don't lie to me, Loony! I heard you talking to someone in here." Draco growled warningly.

Luna smiled dazedly again, blinking and catching all three Slytherins off guard for a few seconds as they stilled and shifted uncomfortably at her strange expression. "Oh that… I was talking to a pixie friend of mine, actually. She likes to follow me around, and I was telling her to go away because I had to finish this article I was reading about Spectrespecs. My dad promised he'd buy me a pair this Christmas." She told them, blissfully unaware of the way Draco's angry sneer had changed into a confused grimace.

"Er…_Right…_I uh…I see."

Harry had to clamp both of hands over her mouth to keep from laughing at the utterly bewildered expression on Draco's face. The blonde Slytherin looked as though he wasn't sure whether he should be annoyed at her response or spooked-out at her weirdness – or perhaps a mixture of both.

"I…er…I guess I'll see you around, Lovegood." Draco shook his head to himself and turned back to glare at Crabbe and Goyle. "Come on you two, I'm sure Potter's around here somewhere!" He barked.

As soon as the three Slytherins had left and the compartment doors were slid close again, Harry let out a sigh of relief and finally yanked the invisibility cloak off her frame. Smiling sheepishly, she turned to Luna and offered the other girl a grateful nod. "Whew…Thanks for that. I thought for a minute that I was going to have to deal with that prick this early into the year." She mused, looking relieved.

Luna's expression remained neutral, though she managed to stun Harry with her next response.

"He stares at you a lot."

Harry frowned and dropped the invisibility cloak in her hands, staring dumbly at the other girl.

"Who?"

Luna blinked calmly before turning back to her upside down magazine.

"Draco Malfoy."

Sputtering in horror, Harry felt all the blood in her body rushing to her cheeks in outrage.

"He does _not–"_

"Oh no, he _does._" Luna didn't bother looking up at her this time as she turned another page of her magazine and continued speaking. "I'd probably be able to explain it to you more once I get my spectrespecs and observe you two together, but he _does _stare at you a lot." Luna lifted her eyes slowly from her magazine and stared curiously at Harry's tomato-red face. "Mostly he does it when you're not looking, and most of the time, he looks angry, but it _is _quite fascinating." She tapped her chin in thought.

Blushing even darker at the blandness of Luna's voice, Harry shook her head fiercely and tried to ignore the way all of her blood was continuing to rush to her cheeks. "I…I well…I don't really think he–"

"We believe you by the way, Harry." Luna interrupted her cheerfully, flipping another page of her magazine and looking back at her. "My father wrote about you in the quibbler last week. He and I believe that the Dark Lord is back too, though everyone else doesn't seem to want to believe you." She added quietly, lifting her bright blue eyes from her magazine and giving Harry a long appraising look.

Swallowing slowly, Harry tried not to let the magnitude of her gratitude show at this, so instead, she managed to show her appreciation with a quiet nod. "Thank you, Luna." She managed to croak out.

"You're quite welcome. It must be difficult what you're going through – it isn't all that pleasant to have people think of you as insane teenager on a regular basis." Luna quipped, and Harry was grateful that Luna turned back to her magazine so she couldn't hide the amused smile on Harry's face.

"No…Not pleasant at all." The dark-haired Gryffindor agreed quietly, still hiding a smile.

* * *

Fortunately, the rest of the ride back to Hogwarts was relatively peaceful after that, and the only other sound that was heard in the room for the rest of the trip was the crinkling of the pages from Luna's magazine. Soon enough, Harry fell into a deep, dreamless sleep, and she woke only a couple of hours later just as the Hogwarts Express had come to a complete stop. Yawning and glancing out lazily through their compartment window, Harry's gaze settled quietly on the picturesque scene of the Hogwarts Castle outside. Without meaning to, a small smile slowly began to make its way onto her face.

"Welcome home, Harry." She whispered quietly to herself so that Luna wouldn't hear.

As the thought entered her mind, Harry thought back on how, for the past few years, Hogwarts Castle had been a real home to her much more than her own house ever could be. It was this single, depressing thought that lingered in her head as she stood up slowly and began gathering her things.

"Come on. We should head on out before they run out of carriages to take us back up to the castle." Harry told Luna, waiting until the other girl had gathered her things as well before they both began making their way out of the train. Most of the other Hogwarts students from the other compartments had already exited the train by then and were lining up to alight the carriages outside.

Harry followed Luna quietly to the very end of the line as they waited quietly for their carriage. Unfortunately, as most of the other students had already boarded the carriages half an hour ago, it got to the point where only two carriages were left, and only _three _students were allowed on each carriage.

There were _eight _of them still in line.

_Bloody hell. _Harry's heart sank as she took in the remaining students in front of them. Aside from herself and Luna, Susan Bones, Colin and Dennis Creevey, the remaining three students who were standing at the front of line were none other than Vincent Crabbe, Gregory Goyle, and _Draco Malfoy._

At this, Luna shrugged and turned to glance at Harry. "It looks like we're out of carriages. We'll have to be left behind for now and wait for another carriage to come and pick us up." She suggested.

Harry nodded at this, but when she noticed that Malfoy seemed to be heading towards her, she hastily looked down and glared intently at her shoes, hastily chanting a mantra to herself in quiet prayer.

_ Don't let him see me. Don't let him see me. Don't let him see me–_

"Potter!"

Forcing a calm expression onto her face, Harry steeled her nerves and looked up, meeting Malfoy's irritated expression with a blank one of her own. Shrugging, she regarded him coolly. "Malfoy?"

He didn't take the bait, however, and instead, reached over and grabbed her roughly by the arm. "Lovegood, you go take the first carriage with Crabbe and Goyle." Rolling his eyes, Malfoy then turned his attention towards Colin and Dennis. "_You _two imbeciles take the second carriage with Bones. Potter and I will wait up for here for the last one." He drawled, motioning impatiently for them to leave.

To give her credit, Luna had looked a little hesitant about leaving Harry alone with Malfoy at first – but before she could do anything else, Crabbe and Goyle were already forcing her into the carriage either way. As soon as they had left, followed by the second carriage containing Susan, Colin, and Dennis, Harry finally snapped back to her senses long enough to snarl and yank her arm free from Draco's grasp.

Draco's eyes narrowed and he glared at her, grabbing her arm again in another death grip.

"We have to talk, Potter."

She felt her pulse begin to quicken at the Slytherin's words and without knowing why, Harry winced to herself and began to struggle even harder against him in an attempt to wrench her arm free.

"You and I have nothing to discuss, Malfoy. And I am _not _about to share a carriage with you! I don't want any more rumors associating the two of us together!" She hissed at him, her eyes flashing.

"What are you going to do?" Malfoy retorted, scoffing in disbelief. "_Walk _the rest of the way?!

"As a matter of fact–" Harry's cheeks flushed in anger at the mocking tone of his voice but nevertheless, she glared up at him again and finally managed to yank her arm free. "–I'll do _just _that!"

Without waiting for the slack-jawed Slytherin to respond, Harry was already yanking her trunk along after her as she began trudging up the steep slope of the hill that went up to the Hogwarts Castle entrance. Behind her, she heard Malfoy sputtering at her in disbelief, his voice echoing in the distance.

"Potter, you _daft _idiot – you can't be serious! That's a bloody long walk!" He protested.

"Then you can wait _there _like the spoiled little rich boy you are, _Draco, _and wait for your precious carriage." Harry scoffed as she continued to walk on, pointedly ignoring the way she could feel Draco's eyes following her up the hill. Then, after a long moment, she heard him trudging up after her.

"Argh…Bloody hell, woman!"

Harry heard him cursing loudly behind her just as he grabbed his trunk as well and reluctantly began following up the hill after her. "I swear, Potter…You are just the most _stubborn _girl I have ever met. Why do you always have to make things so bloody difficult all the time?!" He complained out loud.

She didn't answer him, though she heard his footsteps trailing after her as they began heading up the path towards Hogwarts castle. Unfortunately, just when Harry thought they were going to manage the trip back to Hogwarts in silence, Malfoy spoke again – and this time she froze at his words.

"Why didn't you answer any of my letters?!"

Shocked into silence, Harry's jaw dropped and she whirled around just in time so that she caught the look of angry accusation in Malfoy's gray eyes. When he just blinked and seemed genuinely surprised at the confused expression on her face, Harry finally managed to answer in a croaked voice.

"…_What?!"_

Draco's eyes narrowed, his angry expression suddenly melting away into a wary glare.

"My _letters, _Potter. I must have written about _five _of them this entire summer – and each one of them was asking for a response. You didn't respond to _any _of them…." He let his voice trail off for a couple of seconds when he noticed the gobsmacked expression on the Gryffindor's face. After a long pause, Draco finally arched an eyebrow at her and stopped walking, crossing his arms over his chest.

"You…_didn't _get any of my letters…Did you?" He asked slowly, and if anything, the speechless, gaping stare that Harry shot him in response gave him all the confirmation he needed. "Merlin's beard, I _knew _it. I should have known that they'd start intercepting my letters. I can't say I'm surprised…I'm just glad I managed not to write anything _too _important in there." He sighed and shook his head at himself.

"Wait…Can you just slow down a minute, Malfoy?" Harry finally turned around fully and dropped her grip on her trunk. "Let me get this straight…You…._wrote _to me over the summer?" She didn't bother waiting for Draco's response before she spoke again. "Why didn't I receive anything?!"

Draco glared pointedly at her and dropped his trunk, running a hand through his hair in frustration. "To answer _both _your questions, Potter – _yes, _I wrote to you this summer. Mostly I was trying to warn you about what the Ministry was planning this year. I'm willing to bet you didn't receive _any _of my letters because _someone _was intercepting them – care to think of who might do that?" He jeered snidely, though even before he finished the question, Harry already knew who that person was.

"Pettigrew." She ground out angrily, and Draco sneered at her in agreement.

"Right." He scoffed, shaking his head. "You _do _realize, Potter…That you can't trust him? I told you _countless _times that you can't trust a man like Peter Pettigrew and yet you don't seem to listen–"

"And who am I supposed to trust here, _you?!" _Harry imitated the way he had scoffed at her. "In case you've forgotten, Malfoy…We're not exactly the best of friends here. In fact, we have been _enemies _for the past _five _years, and if you think that I'm just going to up and believe every single word you say, then you must take me for a fool." She had grabbed onto her trunk again and was just about to shove past him when Draco surprised her by reaching out and grasping her sharply by the arm, pulling her back.

"At least hear me out about this." He persisted, and while Harry struggled to wrestle herself free for the next few minutes, he spoke. "Pettigrew…He's instilled a Ministry official in Hogwarts this year, Potter. Her name is Dolores Umbridge–" Draco winced when Harry made to scrape at his arm in an effort to get away but he easily dodged her swipe and continued. "–you may not have met her yet but _I _have…And I can tell you that she's bad news. Now, I don't exactly know _why _she's being stationed here at Hogwarts but I'm _more _than willing to bet that it has something to do with you. But there's… something else that you need to know too." Draco paused as he tried to gather his next few words.

"Why are you even telling me?! _WHY ARE YOU HELPING ME?!" _Harry exploded, her face flushing in anger as she tried to shove him away again and ended up wincing as his grip tightened on her arm.

"Your father." Draco continued, looking strained with effort at having to fight against her struggling. "This week, the Minister had been…authorizing a lot of attacks on a lot of rumored anti-Ministry organizations. Most of them were just rubbish of course, but he's been using the claim that they're trying to sniff out the remaining Death Eaters trying to rise against them. It's just–" He paused again and looked up, meeting Harry's surprised expression with a grim smile. "–it's not James' style at all. He wouldn't allow such open hostile action like that. Something doesn't add up." He told her carefully.

_Hostile action…Anti-ministry organizations… _Harry's mind began whirring as she thought back on her discussion with her friends that morning. _Could it be that Dad is looking for the Order of the Phoenix? Is that why he's been authorizing all those raids? _She frowned and flicked her eyes up, backing away slightly when she saw how Draco was staring right at her – as though trying to read her thoughts.

_He's right though… Authorizing all of those raids is not something that my Dad would usually do…Does Malfoy know about the Order of the Phoenix? Is it even safe to ask him about it? _Reluctantly deciding against it, Harry tore her gaze away from Draco's inquisitive glance and cleared her throat.

"To be honest, I don't know what you expect to hear from me, Malfoy. But I can assure you–" Harry stiffened and narrowed her eyes at the other teen as she stepped away from him. "–I am _not _about to spill any information about my own father like that to _you, _of all people. Now if you'll excuse–"

"You don't _have _any information about your father, Potter. The only reason I'm telling you all this is, like I said, I'm the _only _person you'll find who's actually honest with you" He told her bluntly.

Furious at the truth behind his words, Harry didn't say anything else but instead, managed to give her arm one particularly hard _yank. _This time, the force she exerted was strong enough that Draco was actually taken by surprise and he accidentally lost his grip on her, causing her to cry out as she lost her footing and ended up tumbling backwards onto the ground. In his shock, Draco stared at her for a few seconds, trying to comprehend what happened, but when Harry tried to use that opportunity to stand up again, she ended up wincing in pain and collapsing back onto the ground, clutching at her knee.

"_Owww…_Damn it!" Harry held back a stream of interesting curses that were threatening to spill from her mouth as she glanced down and stared at the large, painful-looking red gash on her knee.

_That's definitely going to scar…Wait a minute, is he– _Harry didn't bother finishing her train of thought as she glanced up, following the familiar sound until she came upon Draco's smirking face. _He is… I can't believe him! He's actually laughing at me! Why that pathetic, pointy-faced ferret! _She fumed.

Just as Harry's eyes narrowed and she opened her mouth to snap at him, Draco shook his head and held a hand up to silence her, his shoulders shaking with laughter. "Relax, Potter… I'm not laughing at the fact that you got hurt…It's that expression on your face." He chuckled again but surprised her when he got down on one knee beside her. "You look like you've just eaten something sour." He teased.

Glaring indignantly at him, Harry watched suspiciously as Draco leaned over her knee and inspected the wound carefully. When he leaned in closer and began lifting the hem of her skirt higher so he could check the wound, however, Harriet reddened and coughed loudly, trying to push him away.

"M–Malfoy, what are you doing? You can't lift up my skirt like that–"

"What's the matter, Potter?" Draco broke off her embarrassed stammering when he glanced up at her, giving her a deliberately teasing grin and looking far too amused with the situation for her liking.

"It's not like I'm looking for any golden snitches this time–"

Harry's eyebrows twitched furiously at his last comment but she didn't take the bait.

"–I'm just trying to figure out how bad the wound is." Draco told her pointedly. "How painful is it? Can you stand and walk the rest of the way? Or do you want to wait for the carriages?" He asked her.

Blushing at the fact that Draco was _still _too uncomfortably close to her exposed thigh; Harry considered his question and took in a deep intake of breath. "I doubt any carriages would be coming back for us now that we left the waiting station. I can walk back, I think. Let me just try to stand—" Her words ended up as a pained grimace when she tried to stand and ended up falling back onto the ground.

"Let me see your leg again, Potter."

Looking up at the strange tone in Draco's voice, she watched in disbelief as the Slytherin reached up and slowly began uncoiling the dark green necktie around his neck. Then, ignoring her indignant protests, he lifted her skirt a bit higher and slowly began tying the cloth tightly around her knee, covering the wound securely and preventing any further infection. When he glanced back up again and noticed the way she was staring intently at him, Draco arched an eyebrow and gave her a lazy grin.

"Just because I'm a Slytherin, doesn't mean I can't be a good little boy scout too." He drawled.

Harriet was unable to prevent her surprised laugh at his comment, and she couldn't help answering him with a smile of her own. "I'm impressed. I half expected the perfect, immaculate Draco Malfoy to faint at the sight of blood." She teased, her lips twitching again when Draco smirked at her.

"I'm very flattered that you think I'm perfect, Potter. Can you stand?" He ignored the blush on her cheek at his earlier comment and stood up, reaching down and offering a hand to her for support. Still wincing in pain, Harry reached out and took his hand. When she tried to pull herself back up on her feet, however, she ended up squeaking in pain and stumbling clumsily against him. They would have both ended up falling back to the ground had he not reached out and steadied her firmly with his hands.

"Damn it, woman." Draco complained as his arms unwittingly wrapped around her small frame, causing the light shade of pink in Harry's cheeks to darken considerably. "Stop trying to act all tough. If it's too painful for you to stand, just bloody say so! You'll be saving us _both _the trouble." He drawled. "I swear, you are just the most stubborn, hard-headed git I've ever met. And I'm in _Slytherin._" He added.

Annoyed at his words and yet, somewhat chastised, Harry squelched down the angry retort that was threatening to escape her lips and managed to give him a slight, pained grimace instead. "I think you've already covered off the bit where I'm stubborn, Draco." She managed to quip with a weak smile.

Draco looked a little surprised at hearing her switch to his first name, but he recovered himself quickly and rolled his eyes, dropping down to crouch beside her. "Look… We can finish our argument about the Ministry once we're back up in the castle. For now, we should head back before it gets dark."

He seemed to pause for a few seconds, as though considering their options. Then to Harry's utter confusion, Draco glanced quietly at her again and turned around so that she was facing his back.

Harry gaped at him. "Malfoy, what are you–"

"What are you waiting for, Potter? Hurry up – put your arms around my neck and climb up onto my back. I'll carry you the rest of the way." When she made several sounds of protests at this, Draco sighed in exasperation and glared at her over his shoulder. "Look, you _obviously _can't walk the rest of the way and I sure as _hell _don't want to wait here all night until someone comes down to get us. So you can be a good girl and climb onto my back so I can carry you up, _or–_" His eyes gleamed mischievously.

"–I can knock you unconscious and carry you the rest of the way. That works too. Either way, I can't leave you down here by yourself, the Ministry will be all over my arse again about how I harmed their precious Minister's daughter. What do you say, Pothead?" He blinked and glared pointedly at her.

"B–but…What about our trunks–"

"We'll send a few house-elves to fetch them once we get back." Draco answered impatiently.

"Th–the other students…When they see us like this, they'll start up rumors again–"

"Frankly, rumors are the _last _thing on my mind right now. I'm cold, I'm tired, and I'm hungry. There's a nice, hot dinner feast waiting for us back up in the castle and I certainly don't want to miss it. Now…Are you going to climb up onto my back or do I have to knock you out?" Draco demanded irritably.

Harry couldn't find any more words to express the reservation she felt about climbing onto her archrival's back and letting him piggyback her the rest of the way – but evidently, she didn't have much of a choice in the matter. Sighing, Harriet bit her lip and hesitantly wrapped her arms around his neck.

As soon as she did this, Draco adjusted her position and reached behind him so that he was supporting the back of her thighs with his hands, and he easily lifted her up onto his back. Thankfully, in that moment, Harry was _thoroughly _grateful for the fact that the Slytherin couldn't see her face – because if he did, he would definitely notice the horrible blush that stained her embarrassed features.

Soon enough, as Harry hesitantly adjusted her arms around his neck and supported herself against his firm shoulders, Draco resumed their trail up the path towards the main entrance of Hogwarts. After a few minutes of awkward silence, and of Harry desperately trying to ignore the way his hands were warm against her skin from where he was gripping the back of her bare thighs, Draco surprised her when he suddenly chuckled and glanced slightly over his shoulder so he could give her a teasing smirk.

"You should eat more, Potter. My owl is heavier than you." He quipped.

Harry scowled at him, and she responded by tightening her grip warningly around his neck.

"Your _head _is heavier than me." She snapped.

She felt his shoulders shaking with laughter at this, and Draco turned to give her a lazy smile.

"Well-played, Gryffindor."

At the genuine amusement she heard in his voice and the way his shoulders were still slightly twitching with laughter, Harry felt another reluctant smile fighting its way onto her flushed face. They spent the rest of the walk up the path in silence for a while, and for some time, the only sound that the both of them were able to hear was the soft crunching of leaves under Draco's black leather shoes.

Just as they were nearing the castle ground entrance, however, and they both saw the lights in the Great Hall from the outside windows, Harry began to think about their earlier conversation. Frowning, she finally voiced the question that she had wanted to ask him since the beginning of summer.

"Malfoy…?"

There was a pause in his footsteps at the softness in her voice, but he answered her anyway.

"Potter…?"

"I thought that you'd be avoiding me like the plague by now…?" She sound strangely exasperated as she asked him, but to her surprise, Draco answered her with a blank, confused voice.

"For what…?"

Harry's eyes narrowed angrily and she couldn't help tightening her grip around his shoulders.

"For…getting you in trouble with my father? For that rubbish that you've had to deal with from the Ministry and from my father last year? I wrote to you about that a week after fourth year, Malfoy!" She hissed. "You never acknowledged my letter…I assumed you were just fed up." Harry added glumly.

For some reason, Draco's grip on the back of her thighs tightened slightly and he didn't say anything for a few moments as they finally began nearing the gateway entrance to the school grounds.

"I told you... I didn't receive _any _letters from you this summer, Potter." He repeated slowly.

Harry blinked in realization at this, and in that moment, everything that Draco had been trying to tell her since their argument in the train station suddenly came crashing down on her like a tidal wave.

"…Pettigrew." She suddenly whispered to herself, her eyes flashing with angry realization.

As soon as he heard her, Draco's entire form stiffened but he nodded curtly in agreement.

"What could he possibly be hoping to accomplish by going through my mail like that–"

The rest of Harriet's angry tirade was promptly cut off when, just as she and Draco had reached the large gated door that led them to Hogwarts, it suddenly swung open with a loud, very sharp 'creak'.

Startled, Harriet quickly withdrew from their earlier conversation and glanced up with wide eyes at the cloaked figure walking briskly towards them. As soon as she recognized that tall frame, however, Harry felt all the blood immediately draining out of her face. Gaping, she found herself at a complete loss for words as she looked up and met Cedric's shocked, hurt expression with a guilty, nervous wince.

"I can explain, Cedric."

* * *

**A/N: **Oh dear. Shame on you, Harry. How do you think Cedric's going to react to _this _one? In any event…I guess we can all anticipate a _very _interesting encounter in the next chapter then, huh? *smirk*

**Next Chapter**: A confrontation between Draco and Cedric (*wink-wink*), Dumbledore introduces the new fifth year teachers, and… a few more surprises to look forward to. :D

**DON'T FORGET TO LEAVE A REVIEW FOR ME, DARLINGS! CHEERS, LOVE AND ALL THAT! :D **


	12. Dolores Umbridge

**Harriet Potter and the Minister of Magic **

**Disclaimer:** I don't own Harry Potter or any of the characters you recognize from the HP books in this story. All I own is the plot. Everything else belongs to JK Rowling.

**Pairings**: DM/femHP (eventual). CD/femHP. RW/HG. BZ/GW. JP/LP (past). SS/LP (one-sided).

**Warnings:** Spoilers from canon (Books 4 to 7). Occasional time jumps from chapter to chapter. Mature content later on.

**Notes: ** Hopefully, you guys will forgive my previous absence with this faster update. Ehehe. Just a quick heads-up – there's a fair bit of Cedric/femHarry in his chapter. Consider yourself warned. Enjoy! :D

* * *

**Chapter 12 – Dolores Umbridge**

Cedric glared at her and calmly crossed his arms over his chest.

"I'm listening, Harry." He answered simply.

Blinking a few times at him, Harry's jaw opened and closed a few times as she thought of what she could possibly say to him to explain the situation. When neither one of the scenarios that popped into her mind seemed likely to quell his anger, she quickly untangled her arms from around Draco's neck.

"Malfoy…put me down now please."

Surprisingly enough, the Slytherin complied with her request – though she was unable to catch a glimpse of the strangely irritated expression on Draco's face. Afterwards, as soon as Harry was back down on the ground, she turned to Cedric again and gestured sheepishly to the tie around her left knee.

"I accidentally tripped awhile ago…Draco–I mean _Malfoy_—" Harry hastily corrected herself when Cedric's eyebrows had risen up at her having used the other boy's first name. "–offered to help me back up the school. Otherwise, it would have taken ages before they sent someone to come find us." She began uncertainly, but when Cedric's only reaction was to stare blankly at her again, she rambled further. "We were one of the last few people waiting in line, and they ran out carriages. " She added.

"Harry." Cedric sighed, and at her words, the frown on his face had deepened even more. "I've been waiting up here, worried sick about you! I thought you were hurt, or worse, I thought you were–"

"Oh stuff it, Diggory." Both Harriet and Cedric blinked in shock when Draco had suddenly cut into their argument and drew both of their gazes to his exaggeratedly bored expression. "It's not her fault that you can't keep track of your girlfriend. Maybe next time you should consider a goldfish instead. Much less maintenance." He mocked loudly, smirking when he saw the way Cedric had clenched his jaw.

"You stay out of this, Malfoy." He seethed, his hands slowly closing into tight fists.

Blinking at the unmistakable anger he heard laced in the other boy's voice, Draco managed to hide his mild surprise at him with a sneer. He glanced at Cedric again with a gingerly arched eyebrow.

"Fascinating. I've never seen a Hufflepuff lose his temper before." He drawled, and ignoring the way Harry was frantically trying to push the two boys further away, Draco continued. "And don't worry, pretty-boy. No need to be insecure. I'll return your little princess to you safe and sound. Funny though–" He paused and his sneer widened as he slowly let his gaze flick back over to Harry beside him. "–you're so worried about Potter here, but if I had to bet between the two of you on who would survive alone in a dark forest, my guess would be Potter." Draco grinned in satisfaction at the irate glare on Cedric's face.

"Both of you, just _stop _it!"

The rest of Draco's carefully worded remark was promptly cut off when, to his dismay, Harry had somehow managed to wedge herself between them and pushed both students away from each other. Then, ignoring the look of shock on their face, Harry silenced both of them with a frustrated glare.

She turned to look at Cedric with an imploring expression on her face.

"Look, Ced…There really isn't an issue to be worried about here. If we can go inside and talk about this over dinner calmly and rationally, then maybe I can explain why this looks the way it does—"

"Harry, I am not going _anywhere _with you until you tell me what you were doing with Malfoy!" Cedric snapped back, the blunt irritation in his voice causing Harry to pull away from him in indignation.

"I already told you what happened! I don't care if you believe me or not, just don't try to make me feel bad for something I didn't do!" She seethed, walking right up to him and glaring up at him with such a fierce expression on her face that he reluctantly stepped aside, allowing the Gryffindor to pass.

As soon as Harry had stormed back into the castle, Cedric and Draco were both left glaring heatedly at each other in cold, stony silence. After a long, agonizingly tense moment, Cedric finally decided to break the chilling awkwardness first by shaking his head and giving Draco a frown of dislike.

"And just what exactly are you smirking about, Malfoy?" Cedric demanded angrily, his eyes narrowing dangerously at the younger student but Draco's mocking smirk just widened in response.

"Oh, nothing really…It's just–" Draco's lips twitched again, and purposely stepping away from Cedric as though he was a mere coat rack, he shrugged and answered him in a light drawl. "–I just find it incredibly amusing how you can't even control your own girlfriend, Diggory." He noticed the way Cedric had clenched his jaw at this but he continued. "Or even the way that Potter seems inclined to keep at least a pole's distance from you these days. Though I can't say I blame her, really." He mocked loudly.

"You obnoxious jerk." Cedric spat out, and ignoring the taunting smile on the other boy's face, he stepped towards Draco with his chin raised in challenge. Ironically enough, the two teens were about the same height as the other – and Draco was able to meet the other boy's stance easily with his own.

"I'm warning you, Malfoy…" Cedric paused for a few seconds, but Draco already had an idea of what the Head Boy was going to say. "If you don't want any trouble, just stay _away _from my girlfriend."

Draco merely smiled back calmly at him, though a cold glint flashed in his gray eyes.

"Is that a threat?" He taunted dangerously.

"Consider it friendly advice from your Head Boy." Cedric answered in a deceptively calm voice.

Draco's eyes narrowed very slowly, and all the amusement drained from his face.

"I don't take orders from _anyone, _Diggory. Least of all, Hufflepuff's pathetic little poster boy_._"

Cedric's eyes flashed in outrage, but just as he was about to answer, however, a loud screech from behind them suddenly drew their attention – causing both teenage boys to whirl around instantly.

"_FIGHTING ON SCHOOL GROUNDS! BOTH OF YOU, STOP THAT RIGHT NOW!" _

As soon as he recognized the pink, stout figure that was hastily making her way from across the field towards them, Draco took a step away from Cedric and felt all the blood drain out of his cheeks. Without another word, he took another step away from Cedric again and set his face into a hostile sneer.

"Mister Malfoy!Why am I _not_ surprised to find you _already _causing trouble?! And you're a _Prefect _too, no less!"

Gritting his teeth in barely restrained anger, Draco forced himself to look up and meet the smug, reproachful smile of none other than Dolores Umbridge – who, at that moment, was already heading towards him with her wand held tightly in her hand. Then, to Draco's utter disbelief, the Ministry Official had completely bypassed Cedric altogether and automatically rounded on him, snatching his wand away.

"_This _ends now, Mister Malfoy!" Umbridge's smile turned particularly sadistic as she grabbed the Slytherin tightly by his arm. "_Detention! _You will cease causing trouble and bothering Mr. Diggory–"

"Detention for _what?! _I wasn't doing anything!" Draco growled in protest, his eyes flashing vehemently but Umbridge's smile just widened and she tightened her fingers painfully around his arm.

"…for thinking you can go about terrorizing the other students." To Draco's shock, Umbridge's eyes narrowed slowly and she suddenly loomed over him with a dark, threatening glare. "Oh I _know _your kind, Mister Malfoy… I know your father too… Lucius Malfoy is as much of a real Death Eater as they come, don't you dare think I don't know that. If it were up to _me, _you would _both _be locked up in Azkaban." She enunciated sweetly at him, causing Draco to flush in anger at the mockery in her words.

Before he got the chance to defend himself, Umbridge continued. "Fortunately for you, our Minister of Magic is much more lenient than I. You owe him your freedom, Mister Malfoy…And I _fully _intend to remind you of just that." She added, ignoring the way Draco was practically seething with fury.

"How _dare _you talk to me like that–"

"Professor, it's okay..." Cedric suddenly interrupted, causing both Umbridge and Draco to glance at him and notice the way he was shifting uneasily in front of them. "Malfoy wasn't doing any harm at all, we were just talking. It's fine, really. You don't have to give him detention." He added reluctantly.

Draco stared at him, looking mildly surprised, but Umbridge just gave a sharp 'tut' of exasperation at Cedric's words. Fortunately, she loosened her grip on Draco's arm and walked towards Cedric, standing in front of him and giving him an approving pat on the shoulder. "That is _just _like your father, Mister Diggory. I know Amos, of course…He speaks _very _highly of you. As this year's Head Boy, perhaps you will agree with me in saying that a just punishment must be given to Mister Malfoy–"

The rest of Umbridge's sweetly crafted sentence ended up as a screech of indignation when Draco had chosen that opportunity to lunge at them. Ignoring Umbridge's scream of shock, he pushed past her, raised his fist and slammed it right against Cedric's eye, knocking the older teen out instantly.

"_MISTER MALFOY, WHAT DO YOU THINK YOU ARE DOING?!"_ Umbridge shrieked.

As Cedric fell to the ground, unconscious, Umbridge's angry screams heightened and looming over Draco, she ranted such high-pitched accusations at him that it made him smirk in self satisfaction.

"–_NEVER BEFORE HAVE I SEEN SUCH VIOLENCE! I CAN'T – ARE YOU SMIRKING AT ME?!" _

Slowly, Draco lifted his gaze to Umbridge and shrugged nonchalantly, looking amused at her anger. "_Now _you can put me in detention, Professor." He drawled at her with a wide, mocking smile.

At his sarcastic tone, Umbridge's cheeks burned an interesting mixture of red and purple.

"_DETENTION, MISTER MALFOY!"_

* * *

The Great Hall was already bustling with activity when Harriet walked in, and when she glanced around, she noticed that most of the other students had looked up and began whispering to each other when she arrived. Sighing, and doing her best to keep a blank expression on her face, she trudged her feet towards the Gryffindor table, pointedly ignoring Ron and Hermione's attempts to wave her over.

Truthfully, she was still mad at them for their argument on the train earlier that day, and she wasn't about to go forgiving them anytime soon. At least, not until they told her what was going on.

Silently, she plopped herself down beside Ginny and Dean Thomas instead, and after acknowledging both teens' greetings with a nod, she immediately tuned the rest of their voices out. Fortunately, dinner came quickly enough, and Harry had an excuse not to talk to anyone around her when she began stuffing herself with as much food and juice as she could possibly reach on the table.

"Good evening, children."

Looking towards the Head table, Harry watched as Dumbledore stepped onto the platform that overlooked the entire Great Hall. Curious, she set her fork back down onto her plate and turned to listen to him as he began his usual string of announcements of the new set of changes in Hogwarts that year.

"Before anything else, I would like to welcome everyone back to Hogwarts–"

Just as Dumbledore began his speech, Harry heard Ginny mentioning that Cedric was by the entrance so she turned around, her eyebrows fusing together at what she saw. As he walked from the entrance towards his usual seat in the Hufflepuff table, Cedric was wincing and he was holding an icepack to his right eye. Frowning, Harry cast a quick glance over at the Slytherin table in question but to her further confusion, she realized that Draco was not in his usual seat either. Instead, the blonde Slytherin was also walking into the room after Cedric and was smirking as he passed by the Head Boy.

_Did something happen?_

Harry watched both boys in confusion but before she could dwell on It, Dumbledore's voice caught her attention again. The Headmaster was already introducing their new teachers one by one.

"I am very pleased to announce that we have _three _changes in our staff this year." Dumbledore paused, waiting until he had everyone's attention before he gestured to the row of teachers seated along the Head Table beside him. "_First…_It gives me great pleasure to announce that Professor Grubbly-Plank has agreed to resume the post this year for Care of Magical Creatures while Hagrid is away–"

"Where's Hagrid?" Harry asked, her features creasing into a frown. She glanced at Ginny in question but unfortunately, the other Gryffindor looked just as surprised as she was and shrugged at her.

"–_next, _as some of you may have heard, our dear Professor Sprout will not be joining us this year because she has taken a well-deserved sabbatical." He paused when he saw the look of surprise and disappointment on some of the Hufflepuffs' faces. "Now, do not worry yourselves, children. Professor Sprout _will _be joining us again next year. In the meantime, please join me in giving a warm round of applause for your substitute Herbology professor for this year…Professor Autumn Perigreen!"

_Autumn?! _

Harry's eyes went wide with shock and she jerked her attention back to the front of the Hall, watching in genuine astonishment as the tall figure a few seats away from Dumbledore finally stood up. As the Hall was filled with the loud smattering of applause and surprised whispers from some of the other students, Harry took that opportunity to gape at Autumn again, watching as the former Professional Quidditch player smiled at Dumbledore and the students before she took her seat again.

Autumn looked _just _as Harriet remembered her – with her vibrant shade of red hair and the warm, genuine smile that lit up her beautiful features. Not surprisingly, it seemed as though the other male students in the Hall seemed to share her opinion on that subject, because most of them were already craning their heads awkwardly in an attempt to stare closely at their young Herbology professor.

"–lastly, please join me in also welcoming our new Defense Against the Dark Arts Professor… Professor Dolores Jane Umbridge." Dumbledore paused and turned to address the stout, widely smiling pink-dressed woman seated to his right. He waited for the awkward applause of the students to die down before he continued. "Now then, since that's all taken care of… Before I let you all go back to wonderful dinner tonight, our caretaker, Mr. Filch, has just asked me to remind everyone to please–"

"_Hem. Hem."_

For a few seconds, Dumbledore looked stunned at the unexpected interruption by Umbridge, but when he glanced at her in question, the pink-dressed woman just nodded at him. Then, without waiting for the Headmaster's reaction, she stood from her seat and walked right to the front of the Hall.

"Who _is _that foul woman?" Ginny asked Harry in a curious whisper from across the table, but the dark-haired Gryffindor's expression just darkened and she shook her head at Ginny in disdain.

"I know she works as a Senior Undersecretary for my Dad, but I haven't actually seen her until now." She told the other girl quietly, watching as Umbridge smiled at everyone and began to speak.

"Thank you, Headmaster…For those kind words of welcome. And may I just say… How _happy _I am to see all of your bright, cheerful faces, smiling up at me." She gushed with a wide, saccharine smile. In disbelief, Harry took that opportunity to glance around the Great Hall and noted that, save for the mischievous grins Fred and George were sharing across the table, not a single student was smiling.

"I'm sure we're going to be very good friends." Umbridge chuckled, and swept her gaze across the Hall. "The Ministry of Magic has always considered education to be of vital importance. Although each Headmaster has brought something new to this school, progress for the sake of progress _must _be discouraged. Let us preserve what must be preserved, perfect what must be perfected, and prune practices that must be prohibited." With that, she smiled at them again before walking back to her seat.

A tense, awkward silence seemed to linger in the Great Hall after that, and as she looked up, Harry accidentally locked gazes with Draco across the Hall. The Slytherin was staring meaningfully at her, and without hearing his voice, she could already guess what her blond archrival wanted to say to her.

_I told you so._

"What does this mean, Harry?" Ginny broke through Harry's solemn stupor, causing her to tear her steady gaze away from Draco and reluctantly meet her friend's worried expression with her own.

"It means…the Ministry is interfering at Hogwarts." She whispered quietly.

* * *

The next few days that followed Dumbledore's announcement in the Great Hall were certainly not any easier for Harry, especially given the fact that the whole school seemed to believe she was crazy.

It probably didn't help that aside from Cedric being appointed the Head Boy for that year, Ron and Hermione had also been appointed as their new Gryffindor Prefects. In Harry's case, that meant that she got to see her boyfriend and her two friends less and less, and she often found that it was only her and Neville that went about their day getting to their classes. Evidently, Harry could tell that Neville was grateful for the fact that Harry didn't seem inclined to bring up their last argument on the train anytime soon, and both students were carefully avoiding the subject for fear of starting another fight.

Harry was, at least, grateful for Neville's support, because more often than not, whenever the two of them would walk into a room with a crowd of students, she'd get accosted about how she was nothing but an attention-seeking liar. The first time it happened was after their first night – when she had walked back into the Gryffindor Common Room and was greeted by the sight of Seamus Finnegan scowling angrily at her. The Irish Gryffindor had walked right up to her and accused her of lying about Voldemort, and had bluntly told her that his mother almost hadn't let him go to Hogwarts that year.

Seething with anger at his words, Harry had coldly retorted that he should probably read more of the Daily Prophet like his stupid mother, and Seamus had exploded at her at the blatant insult. If it hadn't been for Ron storming into the Common Room and using his Prefect authority to tell Seamus and the other students off, a fight would have started, and Harry would have hexed one of her housemates.

More than the fights, it was her nightmares that were the worst of her experiences that week.

They started just before the end of the summer – a few days after the dementor incident at the Quidditch Exhibition Cup on her birthday. They consisted mostly of disconnected images – that of a large, deadly snake and a long, winding corridor that ultimately led to a large, sealed door. She would reach for the door's handle, but just as it was about to open and she could see the bright light emanating from the inside, Voldemort's grotesque, snake-like face would flash in her mind – and then she'd jerk awake.

Fortunately, during the day, the Weasley Twins' antics that year usually kept her from thinking about the nightmares. Instead, Harry was usually laughing to herself as she watched Fred and George offering innocent first-years another one of their 'creations'. They had been actively developing an interesting line of mischief candies, toys, and supplies that year – something they called _Weasley's Wizard Wheezes. _Surprisingly, the products were beginning to sell like crazy, and Harry thought they were brilliant way of keeping everyone else at ease in light of everything that was happening lately.

Harry had particularly enjoyed it when Fred and used one of his creations – a powdery white substance that he blew into the air just as the Slytherins walked by. This had caused Malfoy, Crabbe, Goyle and the rest of the Slytherins to talk in high pitched, chipmunk voices for that entire morning.

That prank was, truthfully, the highlight of her week.

"Harry!"

Sighing, Harry stopped in the middle of the long stone corridor that led to one of the greenhouses outside Hogwarts Castle. She looked over her shoulder just in time to see Cedric hurrying to catch up to her. From where she stood, she noted that her Hufflepuff boyfriend looked a lot better than the last time she had seen him a few nights ago – save for the purple bruise that circled his left eye.

Shaking her head, she waited until the older teen had reached her, watching patiently as Cedric seemed to hesitate for a few seconds before he finally managed to speak. "Harry…About Malfoy—"

"Cedric." Harry silenced him with another heavy sigh. "Look, I'll be completely honest with you. Considering how we barely saw each other this summer, you have no right to be angry with me—"

Cedric's features creased into a frown at her words. "Barely got to see each other? Harry, I wanted to visit you in your house, I swear! You _knew _my Dad enrolled me in advanced lessons this summer; I didn't have much of a chance to write. You can't just get mad at me for that!" He protested.

His words caused her to massage the bridge of her nose and turn away from him with a cringe. "I…I…_know, _Cedric…I just…You're right." She closed her eyes for a few seconds and took a few intakes of breath before she was able to continue. "I know you had a lot of lessons this summer, I understand that."

She glanced at him, noting the concern on his features. "What I'm angry about is the fact that, not _once, _throughout this _whole _summer, did you write to tell me anything about what was going on." She told him, but if anything, her words only made Cedric's frown deepen even more at her in confusion.

"Anything that was going on…? I don't think I understand you, Harry." He began uncertainly.

Harry stared blankly at him, and after a long pause, she spoke again in a slow, careful voice. "_Everything…_Cedric. You didn't mention anything to me about what the Ministry was planning this year… Or how all the newspapers were exploiting me left and right and claiming that I was insane. I mean, when I got on the Hogwarts Express, my friends just started going on about the 'Order of the Phoenix', Cedric. I feel absolutely _ridiculous _being the last one to know." She told him in exasperation.

Blinking, Cedric stared at her in silence – and it wasn't until she saw the utter bewilderment on his face that she realized that her boyfriend had absolutely _no _idea what she was even talking about.

"You–" Harry's eyes narrowed slowly at him and she leaned forward, studying the expression on his face. "–You don't know either, do you?" When he offered her an embarrassed nod, she turned away from him, glaring bitterly down the length of the corridor before them. "Merlin's beard, Cedric… The whole of Britain is practically turning about these days because of what happened last year, are you honestly going to stand there and tell me that you have no idea what's going on?" She demanded grimly.

For his part, Cedric had the temerity to look guilty at her words but all he could do to respond was to shake his head at her again and offer her a guilty cringe. "Harry, I _told _you… My Dad practically _locked _me away all summer with my tutor, and I had nothing for company save my books. Hell, he barely even let me _see _the Daily Prophet at all, let alone _read _them." When he saw the surprise on Harry's face, he added wryly. "Any so-called 'news' I got about the Ministry, I either got from my father or my tutor. You can imagine my surprise when I came back to school, only to find out that half of my entire house thinks my girlfriend is insane." His jaw tightened as he said this and he couldn't help clasping her hand.

"I've just given the lot of them detention about five minutes ago. I mean, being the Head Boy this year _does _have its perks, I guess." He muttered, and she was surprised to see the anger in his eyes.

"What did you give them detention for?" She asked curiously, looking up at him.

To her astonishment, Cedric just chuckled and gave her an embarrassed smile. "They were talking boisterously in the corridor…And I overhead their conversation about how you were a raving lunatic and that the Ministry should probably have you confined in the mental ward of St. Mungo's." His jaw tightened again, and Harry felt his hand tighten protectively around hers. "Friends or not, I won't have _anyone _talking dirt about my girlfriend like that. My loyalty is with _you, _Harry." He told her firmly.

"I'm not so sure about that, Ced." Harriet countered softly, trying to step away from him.

"Harry…" Sighing, Cedric reached over and pulled the younger teen against him. When she stiffened for a few seconds, he used his free hand and tilted her chin up gently so he could see her face.

"I _swear, _I had absolutely no idea what was happening this summer. I'm sorry I wasn't able to write, but honestly? Even if I could, I'd have no information to offer you that you didn't already know." He told her gently, and when he noticed that Harry's features were beginning to soften, he continued.

"Besides, you should know by now that my Dad kept me sheltered _just _as much as yours did this summer. I think that's one of the disadvantages we get from being the children of top Ministry officials." He pointed out wryly, and at his words, Harriet couldn't help rolling her eyes at him in agreement.

"That's for damn sure." She muttered humorlessly under her breath.

When he noticed the way her expression was no longer infused with anger, Cedric leaned down and touched his forehead to hers. "You have to _trust _me." He whispered, cupping her cheek. "I'm on _your _ anything else, you have to believe _that._ What kind of boyfriend would I be if I wasn't?"

Harry stared up at him, and hesitantly, she sighed and wrapped her arms around his neck.

"You…believe me about Voldemort then?"

Cedric looked down and met her eyes intently, nodding his head without hesitation.

"And you think that everyone who believes the Prophet can all go to hell?" She asked bluntly.

He laughed at her choice of words but nodded again. "To hell…And to whatever else is beneath that." He added, earning a reluctant smile from Harry as she finally allowed herself to laugh softly at him.

"Coming from Cedric Diggory, that's probably the most vulgar declaration of war I'm ever going to get." She teased, and when Cedric blinked and gave her a glare, her smile dissolved into laughter.

"I can be vulgar too, Harry." He protested but when she just grinned at him, he rolled his eyes. "Well, probably _not _as much as your typical Slytherin, but given the circumstance, I _can _get mad too –"

Harry's eyes widened in realization at his words and she suddenly remembered where this entire conversation had started. "Now that you've brought it up …Cedric, _what _happened to your eye?" She demanded, but when she tilted his face to inspect his bruised eye, Cedric smiled sheepishly at her.

"It's _nothing, _Harry…It's even healing up nicely now, it should be gone in another day or so." He tried to avoid her angry glare at him for a few seconds, but when he saw that the Gryffindor wouldn't let up, he sighed and offered her a careless shrug. "I got into a bit of a spat with Malfoy when I saw him carrying you up to the castle. It's nothing, Harry, I swear. It doesn't even hurt anymore." He assured her.

Harry frowned at him but said nothing, her eyebrows fusing together in angry confusion.

"What were you even _doing _with Malfoy in the first place, anyway?"

Cedric's softly spoken question broke Harry out of her thoughts, drawing her attention back to the Hufflepuff's gaze. He was staring quietly at her, clearly waiting for an answer, but Harry had definitely noticed the flickering uncertainty that the older teen was trying to hide in his expression.

"I _told _you." Harry sighed and began to explain, watching his reaction carefully. "We were some of the last few students who got off the train, so there were no carriages left. Malfoy kept annoying me, so I wanted to walk up the hill by myself. That was when I scraped my knee…And left with no other choice; I let Malfoy carry me back up to the castle." She noticed the way Cedric's eyebrows rose in question so she quickly added. "It was either that or wait for someone to find us. Who knows how long that would have taken?" She reasoned, and she was relieved to notice that Cedric nodded reluctantly.

"I see."

She hesitated, inwardly debating with herself whether she should go into detail and explain what exactly she and Draco had been talking about while going up the hill – but then she decided to keep that to herself. Truth be told, she wasn't exactly sure how Cedric was going to react to that yet.

When she glanced back up at him, however, she was surprised to realize that the Hufflepuff was glaring quietly down the corridor, his eyebrows fused together as he tried to hide his face from her. Fortunately, Harry knew the Hufflepuff well enough that she had to smile to herself when she realized exactly what his concern was. Without warning, she laughed at him and hopped right up onto his back.

"What the–_Harry!_" Cedric's indignant yelp was caught somewhere in the middle of anger, surprise, and hilarity, and when he struggled to keep his balance, Harry's soft laughter rang in his ears.

"You're _jealous_."

"I am _not–"_

"Yes, you _are._"

She grinned, laughing when Cedric's scowl deepened and he shook his head at her antics. He pushed her off gently, but when he turned around to face her, there was a reluctant smile on his face.

"Okay, fine…_maybe _I am…And I know I'm being completely ridiculous, but I can't help it." He smiled sheepishly at her again, but the tension in his shoulders was visibly gone now as he pulled her back against him. "I've been missing my girlfriend for _months_ and the first time I see her again, she's with Draco Malfoy, of all people. I'm sorry for acting like such a jerk, Harry." He cut off her response with a chaste kiss, leaving the both of them slightly out of breath when he finally pulled away. "Forgive me?"

Harry smiled, and she leaned up on her toes so she could drop a kiss on his cheek. "You couldn't be a jerk if you tried, Ced." She leaned forward and kissed him again, linking her arms around his neck. Just as they were about to pull apart, however, Harry heard the unmistakable ringing of the school bell somewhere far off into the distance and she winced, pulling sharply away from Cedric in startled panic.

"I have to go!" She exclaimed, but when she tried to yank herself away from his arms, Cedric surprised her when he grinned and pulled her back against him, his eyes suddenly alight with mischief.

"I believe you're late for class, Miss Potter. I should take off house points." He teased playfully, but he laughed when Harry whacked him indignantly on the shoulder and began running down the hall.

* * *

"Everyone, please don't forget to wear gloves when you're handling the roots. Otherwise, you might get a horrid rash. Please lift the plant slowly…Now carefully untangle the roots– why, Miss Potter!"

Harry flushed as she entered the greenhouse and soon found herself the attention of nearly all her Slytherin and Gryffindor classmates. At the very front of the greenhouse, standing in front of a few plant exhibits, was Professor Autumn Perigreen, and the older woman was looking disapprovingly at her.

She ducked her head sheepishly and offered the red-haired woman a nervous smile. "G–good afternoon, Professor…I'm sorry for being late, I just…I ran into the Head Boy for a few minutes and he–"

"The Head Boy's her boyfriend, Professor." Lavender Brown pointed out loudly from where she was sitting in the front of the room with Parvati, causing both girls to giggle at Harry's flushed features.

_Way to blow my cover, Lav. _She grumbled silently to herself, glaring at Lavender in resentment.

Fortunately enough, Autumn's lips seemed to twitch slightly at Harry's predicament.

"I…_see…_" Shaking her head, she ignored the smirks being aimed at Harry from all around the greenhouse and nodded, sighing exasperatedly before she gestured to a seat in the back of the room. "I'm willing to let the matter slide _this _time, Miss Potter…But I'm afraid the next time you're late, I'm going to have to take house points. Please see me after class." Although the words were stern, the way Autumn had spoken them were gentle, and a mildly amused smile lingered on her face as she spoke.

Somewhat chastised, especially with the way her housemates were glaring at her in slight admonishment; Harry nodded and quickly walk towards the back of the room. To her annoyance, however, it turned out that there were only _two _seats left – one was right in between Crabbe and Goyle, and the other one was at the far corner – right beside Draco Malfoy. She reluctantly took the seat next to Draco and began pulling out her notes and quill, careful not to look at the blonde Slytherin in the eye.

"Now then–"

Curious, Harry looked up and watched as Autumn resumed her lecture once more, effortlessly enthralling the entire class at once with her cheerful voice and smile. "–as I was saying, please make sure you all have your gloves on for this afternoon's lesson. We'll be referring to a particular book today – this one, in fact. Unfortunately, I'm afraid I only have a limited stock available." Autumn paused for a few seconds and bit her lip as she skimmed the room and counted the number of students around.

"So…That being said, I'm going to have to ask you all to pair up with your seatmates– just for this afternoon's project, of course. Since we all need to be referring to this book to proceed, you're all going to have to share a copy with the person next to you. Here, let me distribute these out for you."

Once Autumn began distributing the copies around the room, Harry waited patiently until she reached them, but when the red-haired Professor handed the book over to Draco instead of her, Harry couldn't help making a brief sound of protest. Fortunately, Autumn hadn't noticed, but Draco had cast a sideways glance at her in amusement. Then, smirking, he arched an eyebrow at her and asked casually.

"So…Do you want _me _to hold the book with you leaning over me or the other way around?"

Blushing, Harry could have sworn that there was a teasing note in his voice when he asked that.

"Um…You can hold on to it. I'll just peek at it from time to time." She agreed, still blushing.

Draco nodded, and thankfully, he didn't say anything else after that until much later on during their lesson – when there was a blurred word in the book that Harry couldn't quite make out and she had to ask him what it was. To her surprise, Draco supplied the correct word easily, and after she thanked him, the Slytherin nodded again, allowing both of them to return to their project in silence.

"Everyone, today's exercise is something relatively simple, actually." Autumn smiled at them again and gestured to the green leafy plant that sat in front of each student. "What you have in front of you is actually a basic magical cross between a willow flower, and a common tree. The result is that specimen you have in front of you, which will eventually grow into a baby whomping willow. Unfortunately, before we can plant it though, we need to untangle its roots. Now, turn to page fifty–"

Harry eventually tuned out the rest of Autumn's discussion as she peered over Draco's shoulder and read the instructions from their textbook. The instructions were pretty clear, so she set to work at once, and not long after, she noticed that Draco began working as well. After about an hour of untangling the stubborn roots of her plant, she paused and leaned back against her seat. Looking around, she glanced at Draco and found that, to her amusement, he didn't seem to be having any more luck than _she _was. In fact, he looked _frustrated_, and he looked short of trying to strangle the plant to death.

Hiding a smile at this, Harry averted her gaze from him and glanced towards the front of the room where she saw Neville seated with Hermione. As usual, both of her friends were doing an _excellent _job with their plants, but it was _Neville _who was practically just about completed with his project already.

"I _hate _Herbology."

Startled at the sudden sound of his voice, Harry tore her gaze from Neville across the room and glanced back at Draco again; watching as the Slytherin finally sighed and placed his plant back in its pot. Smirking, she met his exasperated expression and gestured idly to his mangled up plant with a wry grin.

"I think it's safe to say that Herbology doesn't exactly like you either." She quipped.

Draco's lips twitched with mirth at this, but he shook his head and gave her a weak glare.

"Shut up."

Harry's shoulders shook with laughter, but she shrugged and gestured to her own plant. "As you can see, I'm not doing so well myself." She pointed out sarcastically, earning a reluctant laugh from him.

"It's okay for _you _to be mediocre, Potter. I'm a _prefect, _it's embarrassing for _me._" He drawled.

She rewarded him with a halfhearted glare.

"Shut up."

He smirked at this but leaned back against his seat and stared at her, studying her closely.

"So, Potter…" Draco's voice trailed off for a few seconds, and the amusement in his voice caused Harry to pause in the middle of adjusting her plant and look up at him. "I didn't get you in trouble with your boyfriend the other day, did I?" He drawled, causing Harry to look up at him in mild embarrassment.

"What do you mean–_oh._"

Furious with herself for the blush that began to stain her pale cheeks, Harry managed to meet his teasing smirk and shook her head. "It's fine, we talked. So everything's okay now." She told him. "That actually reminds me–" Reaching into her pocket, she pulled out a green cloth and handed it to him.

Draco stared at it in confusion for a few seconds, but when he met her eyes in question, Harry just rolled her eyes at his expression and thrust the cloth at him. "It's your necktie, you git. I'm sorry I never got to return it until now, but it just kept slipping my mind." She admitted, handing it back to him.

Slowly, he took the necktie from her and looked up to see the Gryffindor looking hesitantly at him again. When he arched an eyebrow at her in question, her cheeks reddened but she smiled at him.

"I…never actually got to thank you properly for helping me the other day. For carrying me all the way to Hogwarts, I mean." She added quickly when she saw the confused look on his face. When his expression cleared and he finally nodded in understanding, Harry blushed again and continued talking. "Don't worry, I had it washed. Just in case you don't want any of my 'filthy' blood on it." She quipped.

Draco's lips twitched at her comment but he didn't say anything, merely tucking the necktie into his pocket and nodding again. They fell into an awkward silence for a few minutes, but just as Harry had shrugged and was about to turn back to her plant, Draco surprised her when he gave her a smug smirk.

"You _ought _to be thanking me, Potter…I can't believe I carried you all the way to Hogwarts that day. I nearly broke my back." He drawled, smirking wider when he saw Harry's eyes flash in indignation.

"Hey! You told me that I wasn't that heavy and your _owl _weighed more than me!" She protested.

"I have an _eagle _owl, Potter. He's _heavy._"

"Smarmy _bastard_–"

To her amazement, Draco grinned at her outburst and laughed, turning away from her flushed face and shaking his head. "Potter, you are just _too _predictable, do you know that? I could tease you all day." He teased, but when Harry just gaped at him, he chuckled again and turned back to their book.

They fell into another silence after that but undaunted, Harry glanced up at the blonde Slytherin again and couldn't help grinning at him. "Did _I _get you in trouble with _your _girlfriend then, _Drakie?" _She asked in such a high-pitched, fake saccharine voice that reminded him so much of Pansy that he cringed.

"Ugh…Don't do that again, please." Draco mumbled under his breath. "It's bad enough she's my co-prefect this year, I don't need to be hearing her voice all the time." He complained, making a face.

Laughing, Harry shrugged at him and waited until Draco eventually answered her question.

"No girlfriend to get me in trouble with yet." He drawled back, rewarding her with a lazy smile.

Harry blinked a few at this, and she couldn't help staring openly at him in disbelief.

"Weren't you dating that Ravenclaw last year–what was her name–" She frowned in thought.

"Lisa Turpin." Draco supplied, his lips twitching in amusement.

"Riiight… I remember now. I remember you guys were getting pretty serious near the end of fourth year, right?" She gave him a curious look, but Draco just answered her with another smug smile.

"Potter, I am _flattered _that you like to keep yourself updated on my exciting lovelife–"

"Shut up."

Draco grinned smugly at her, and this time, Harry couldn't prevent herself from laughing.

When their laughter had finally died down, Draco answered her question with a careless shrug before turning back to his plant. "We broke up sometime in the middle of summer, but there's not really much to it other than that. She was getting a bit too serious and clingy for my tastes." He drawled.

At his words, Harry rolled her eyes to herself and let out a derisive scoff. She followed his example, however, and turned back to untangling the roots of her own plant. "Ugh…You are _despicable, _Malfoy. Do you know that?" She shook her head to herself and ignored the amused smirk he gave her.

"And _why _exactly am I despicable _now, _Potter?"

"The way you just flip through girls like that…Exactly _what _is it that you're looking for anyway that will make you actually _keep _a serious girlfriend for once?" She asked with an exasperated sigh.

To her surprise, Draco arched an eyebrow at her words and he grinned flirtatiously at her.

"Why…? Are you interested?"

"…You wish."

His smirk dissolved into another round of laughter at her flustered expression. Eventually, the infectiousness of his laughter drew a reluctant smile from Harry as well and she shook her head at him.

Harry was already mentally debating with herself on whether or not Draco was really the 'evil Death Eater' that everyone was making him out to be – or if he was actually nothing more than a self-centered playboy when they were interrupted by Autumn speaking up near the front of the greenhouse.

"Alright, everyone…I'm afraid our time is up for today. If you would all just kindly return all of your tools and plants to the back of the room, including your gloves and your aprons, class is dismissed."

Harry stood up and obediently dropped her things off near the back of the room. Just as she was heading back to her seat, Draco pinched her waist, inadvertently causing her to swat him in retaliation.

"S–_stop it!" _She hissed at him, but the anger on her face dissolved into a helpless laugh when Draco just smirked teasingly at her and shrugged before he stood up and began gathering his things.

"I didn't realize you were so ticklish, Potter."

"You're such a _pervert!_"

He grinned and ducked her attempted swipe at him again before he finally stood up, swung his bag strap over his shoulder and began heading out the door with Crabbe and Goyle right behind him.

Muttering under her breath about his audacity, Harriet shook her head to herself again but a smile tugged insistently on her lips as she gathered her things and began heading towards the exit. She stopped, however, when she heard Autumn's voice calling softly out to her from the front of the room.

"Oh, _Harry…? _I believe I've asked you to stay for after class for a few minutes, sweetheart."

Turning around slowly, Harry's eyes widened as she looked up and glanced at Autumn across the greenhouse, watching as the older woman continued putting some of their class materials away. As soon as she had finished, Autumn looked up at her again and offered the Gryffindor a friendly smile.

"I'm not going to bite you, Harry. Come on over, I just want to talk to you for a bit." She chuckled as she walked over to her desk at the front of the room and patted the seat across her table.

Managing a sheepish smile at that, Harry nodded and took the seat across from her. "Sorry, Professor. It's just that…By now, I think I've gotten way too used to crazy new teachers in school eventually wanting to kill me." She quipped weakly, eliciting a reluctant laugh from Autumn in response.

"Well, I can assure you that the 'wanting to kill you' bit isn't true…But I can't promise anything about the 'crazy' part though." She kidded, still chuckling as she sat down and rifled through her desk.

"Anyway… I actually just wanted to return something to you, Harry. I think either you or your father dropped it in my shop the other day…I'm just glad I got the chance to return it." Without waiting for Harry to respond, Autumn paused and carefully handed her a small, slightly disheveled photograph.

Taking it from her outstretched hand, Harry stared at the photograph for a long moment, her shaky fingers gently smoothing out the picture's roughened corners. It was a wizarding photograph that was taken about ten years ago – during Harry's fifth birthday party. Though the edges were obviously worn out from being carried around a lot, Harry noticed that the picture itself was very well-preserved.

It was a photograph of her and her father – James wasn't the Minister of Magic yet at the time – and both of them were smiling and waving happily in the picture. Harry had just turned five, and she was sitting in front of a birthday cake with strawberry icing smudged all over her cheeks. James was beside her, and he was laughing as he watched Harry giggling and blowing out her birthday candles.

Eventually, when all the candles had been blown out, James leaned over and dropped a feather-light kiss on her head and her five-year-old self giggled again and rewarded him with a warm, tight hug.

It was one of the few photographs Harry remembered ever seeing them both so happy.

"This isn't mine…I think it's my Dad's…" Harry's voice trembled slightly as she glanced up at Autumn again and took the photograph, holding it briefly against her chest. "_Thank you_…Professor."

Autumn's eyes softened at the genuine emotion she saw on Harry's face but thankfully, she didn't say anything, merely nodding in understanding and waiting until Harry regained her composure. Once Harry had tucked the photograph into her robes and began gathering her things, Autumn spoke.

"I remember your father you know…Back when he was still in school, I mean." She mentioned.

Blinking, Harry stared at her in mild surprise. "You went to Hogwarts with him?"

Chuckling, Autumn shook her head and leaned back against her seat. "No, I graduated from Beauxbatons Academy, actually. I was in fourth year when they held the TriWizard Tournament between Hogwarts, Beauxbatons, and Durmstrang. James was the Hogwarts Champion, so I remember him as this really stuck-up, hotshot seventh year." She mused, causing Harry to smile slightly to herself.

"Yeah…He _was _always kind of stuck-up." She admitted with a rueful grin.

Autumn smiled, gesturing to the photograph Harry had tucked away again. "Hold on to that picture of his. It's been preserved really well, it obviously meant a great deal to him." She told her softly.

Harry nodded, unable to think of anything else to say as she dropped her gaze from Autumn's and began gathering her things again. "Anyway…Thank you again, Professor. I should probably go now."

As she stood up and slung her bag strap over her shoulder, Autumn stood up as well and pointed wryly to the seat where Harry had sat during their lesson. "Wasn't _he _the boy you were avoiding when you ducked into my shop?" She asked curiously, causing a heavy blush to stain Harry's cheeks.

"Uh…Yeah, he was." She stammered, looking anywhere but Autumn's curious expression.

"You two seemed like awfully close friends to me." She teased, watching the younger girl closely.

At her words, Harry's blush darkened even more and she shook her head in response. "We're not exactly friends, Professor…That is…It's…_complicated._" She winced as soon as she heard her last word.

"I…see."

She could have sworn that the red-haired woman was hiding an amused smile at her evasive response. Nevertheless, she was thoroughly grateful when Autumn shrugged and led her to the door.

"Very well…Off you go then, dear." She nodded, gesturing her towards the exit.

Harry hesitated for a few seconds, and she turned around again just as she reached the door.

"Professor–" She waited until Autumn had turned around to look at her again before she continued. "–you'll be watching the Quidditch games throughout the year, won't you?" She asked.

Autumn raised an eyebrow at this, but she couldn't help giving Harry another curious smile.

"I _might _be…Why do you ask, Harry?"

Harry beamed brightly at her and shrugged before ducking her head sheepishly behind her hand.

"I was hoping you could give me some tips about my flying, actually."

The red-haired woman's lips twitched, and she couldn't help returning Harry's grin with an exasperated smile. "We'll see then, Miss Potter. Run along now, or you'll be late for your next class."

* * *

Harry's bright mood abruptly came to end just as she and her friends settled down in their classroom for their first DADA lesson that day. They stared at Umbridge smiling cheerfully at them.

"Ordinary Wizarding Level Examinations." She flicked her wand at the chalkboard at the front of the room and chuckled as she began striding casually around the classroom, looking around the class.

"O…W…Ls…More commonly known as…_OWLs…_" Umbridge stopped and turned around to smile pleasantly at them again. "Study hard…And you _will _be rewarded. Fail to do so, and the consequences may be…_Severe."_ With that, she giggled to herself flicked her wand lazily over the horde of books that were stacked on her table. One by one, the books floated over and plopped noisily down on their desks.

When her own DADA book plopped itself in front of her, Harry scowled and she couldn't help her frustration as she began leafing through the book's pages. Evidently, from where he was seated a few rows behind her, Draco Malfoy seemed to be thinking the exact same thing so he raised his hand.

Umbridge looked surprised as his reaction, but she addressed him with a tight-lipped smile.

"_Yes, _Mister Malfoy?" She asked sweetly.

"This book is absolute _rubbish – _there's nothing in here about using defensive spells." He protested sharply, his eyes flashing in irritation when Umbridge's only reaction was to giggle at him.

"_Using _spells?! Why, I can't even imagine why you'd even _need _to use defensive spells, Mister Malfoy." She explained slowly – as though she were trying to explain something to a five-year-old child.

Furious, Draco looked as though he was just on the verge of saying something nasty but before he could, Harry took that opportunity to draw Umbridge's attention to her own disbelieving glare.

"We're not going to use magic?!" She asked incredulously, her voice sounding so laced with obvious disbelief that Umbridge's eyes narrowed slowly and she looked at Harry with angry disapproval. Before she spoke, Umbridge closed her eyes for a few seconds – as though she was trying to calm herself down. Then, she took a few deep breaths before she opened her eyes again and smiled at Harry.

"It is the view of the Ministry that a theoretical study is more than sufficient to get you through your examinations. Which is, after all, what school is all about." She explained cheerfully in response.

"And pray tell, _Professor…_" Draco's mocking drawl was laced with sarcasm as he glanced up and sneered at the Umbridge's reddening face. "…How does the Ministry believe that mere _theory _is going to prepare us for what's out there?" He asked her pointedly, much to the chagrin of the other students.

"There is _nothing _out there, dear…" Umbridge smiled at him, speaking in a manner that befitted a child rather than a teenage student. "Who do you imagine would attack children like yourselves?"

"Oh I don't know, Professor…Maybe, _Lord Voldemort?!" _Harry snapped loudly, pointedly ignoring the way Umbridge had flinched at the name and the fact that all of her other classmates, including Draco, had suddenly fallen dead silent and were now staring at her in shock and uncertainty.

For a few long minutes, it was almost as if none of the other people in the classroom wanted to be the first to speak – and it wasn't until Umbridge had finally recovered her composure that she addressed Harry again. Slowly, she walked right over to Harry's table and loomed over her smaller form.

"Let me make this…quite plain." Umbridge withdrew her gaze from Harry's death glare and addressed the rest of the Gryffindors and Slytherins seated around the room with a soft, chilling whisper.

"You have been told that a certain Dark Wizard is at large again…This…is…a…_lie."_

"It's _not _a lie! I _saw _him, I _fought _him! He almost killed me–"

"_Detention, _Miss Potter!" Umbridge finally snapped, and Harry noticed that the smile on her face was gone now as she whipped around and angrily stalked back to the front of the classroom.

"I will not have you filling my classroom with your delusional stories–"

"So according to you, I've just been making everything up?! _Everything – _from the moment I was abducted in the TriWizard Tournament to the time when that dementor attacked me last week–" Harry stopped when Umbridge suddenly rounded on her again, her eyes narrowed dangerously into tiny slits.

"That _dementor _you speak of was nowhere _near _you that night, Miss Potter. Our Ministry Aurors…Even your own _father _will attest to it. What you are…is merely an ill-tempered child with a penchant for attention from anyone foolish enough to believe you!" She snapped in angry contempt.

Harry's jaw dropped in outrage at her words, and she was no longer aware of her classmates watching their little exchange. She retaliated by sneering at Umbridge with a defiant glint in her eyes but before she could argue again, Draco surprised everyone else when he spoke up against Umbridge again.

"So if that's the case, _Professor, _how do you explain all of those violent raids the Ministry has been authorizing lately against any non-Ministry approved organizations? What is it exactly you're looking for if, _as you say, _we have nothing to worry about?" He drawled sarcastically, sneering at her.

Umbridge was seething as she glared at Draco, her cheeks flushing with an angry, purple color.

"_We, _the Ministry, are doing our very _best _to ensure that each of you–" She took a deep breath and roamed her angry gaze meaningfully at all of the students watching. "–are always well-protected and _safe. _I can assure you, Mister Malfoy…The raids we have been authorizing are fair and necessary–"

"_Fair _and _necessary? _You haul people into the Ministry and detain them for _hours _without a warrant…You call that fair and necessary?!" Draco raged, his eyes flashing as he glared hatefully at her.

"_Detention, _Mister Malfoy!" Umbridge shrieked at him, and the sudden shrillness of her voice had caused all the students in the room to jump in their seats. Without saying anything else, she stalked across the room and descended on Draco, grabbing the teen by his collar and looming angrily over him.

Ignoring the shocked stares and whispers of the other fifth year Gryffindors and Slytherins around the room, Umbridge glared down at Draco with a hateful sneer on her face. Then, after having regained her composure somewhat, she released her grip on Draco and managed a calm smile at him.

"Evidently…_Now _I can see where all the lies, delusions, and anti-ministry propaganda is coming from." She hissed at him, ignoring the way Draco was gaping indignantly at her. "So _you're _the source of bad influence among all the other children…Well, we're going to have to remedy that." She sighed softly and shook her head in dismay. "Young children are _so _easily influenced by such _bad _apples these days–"

Harry stood up sharply from her seat, ignoring Ron and Hermione's warning looks beside her.

"Professor, he isn't lying! The Ministry is–"

"_Enough!" _Umbridge screeched again, and at the hysterical anger she heard in the older woman's voice, Harry's jaw snapped shut, and she could do nothing but glare back in stunned silence.

"See me later, Miss Potter. In my office."

* * *

**A/N: **So…Who hates toadface with a passion? I know _I _personally felt like shooting her in the head while I was watching the fifth movie or reading the book. I thought I'd dial it up a notch even more *smirk*

**Next Chapter: **Harry's detention with Umbridge, a little CD/femHP, a _lot _of Umbridge, and Harry talks to Sirius about what's on.

**As usual, don't forget to drop in and leave me a review, lovelies! Till next time, cheers! :D**


	13. Choosing Sides

**Harriet Potter and the Minister of Magic **

**Disclaimer:** I don't own Harry Potter or any of the characters you recognize from the HP books in this story. All I own is the plot. Everything else belongs to JK Rowling.

**Pairings**: DM/femHP (eventual). CD/femHP. RW/HG. BZ/GW. JP/LP (past). SS/LP (one-sided).

**Warnings:** Spoilers from canon (Books 4 to 7). Occasional time jumps from chapter to chapter. Mature content later on.

**Notes: ** Just a bit of advice for you guys – this is… a _very _eventful and dramatic chapter. Even _I _was surprised with how much happened in here so I encourage you guys to pay extra close attention. *insert suspenseful music here* So…without further ado…I won't keep you guys on your toes any longer… Happy reading! :D

* * *

**Chapter 13 – Choosing Sides**

Harry sat down quietly on the couch in front of the fireplace in the Gryffindor Common Room that evening. Hesitantly, she glanced at the painful scars on the back of her hand and flinched to herself.

_I must not tell lies. _

Her face darkened as she remembered the cruel smile on Umbridge's face as she made Harry write the words on her parchment over and over again with a blood quill, which kept marking the skin on the back of Harry's hand with the words until the Gryffindor was delirious from the pain. She didn't dare cry out though, no, she wouldn't have given Umbridge the satisfaction. Instead, she had kept her mouth shut and had written the phrase as many times as Umbridge wanted her to without a single word.

It was, without a doubt, the worst detention Harry had ever experienced – and what bothered her the most was that she couldn't even tell anyone else about it without coming off as delusional again. So inwardly, as she had walked back to the Gryffindor Common Room after her detention, she had already made a decision with herself that she wouldn't tell anyone about what had happened. Not yet.

"What's wrong with your hand?"

Blinking and stiffening slightly at the sound of Hermione's concerned voice, Harry jerked her head up just as Hermione had sat down beside her and grabbed her hand. Then, ignoring Harry's soft protests, she turned her hand over and stared at the bright red scars etched onto her pale skin in horror.

Tensing, Harry shook her head and tried to yank her hand away. "Hermione, it's _nothing–_"

"Harry, you've _got _to report this!" Hermione whispered grimly to her just as Ron and Neville had sat down on Harry's opposite side. "Dumbledore will need to know what that woman did to you, he–"

"_No, _Hermione!" Harry hissed back, and ignoring the look of shock on Ron and Neville's face, she yanked her hand away and tucked it behind her back. "Dumbledore already has too much on his mind. Besides, I'm not about to give Umbridge the satisfaction of telling on her." She muttered back angrily.

"Bloody hell, mate…" Ron whispered, his face pale as his gaze traveled back and forth from her hand to Hermione's urgent expression. "If that woman is hurting you, you have to tell someone. Hell, you have to tell your father first of all, he's the one who has the authority to send that woman away–"

The instant she heard him mentioning her father, Harry rounded on him and her eyes flashed an angry, mocking green. "Yeah well, honestly Ron? I don't really think my Dad will give a _crap_ even if I did tell him. So I don't see the point." She snapped back at him, her expression creasing into an angry scowl.

"Harry–" Her attention snapped to Neville's imploring gaze but her glare didn't soften. "–you_ have _to tell someone. Whether it's your Dad, or Sirius, or even Remus, _someone _has to know what Umbridge did to you. We can't just let her get away with that. The Ministry will do something about—"

"You want me to risk another bout of articles and Ministry condemnations about my being insane and delusional? I don't think so, Neville." Harry drawled back sarcastically, sneering at him.

He flinched at that, his features looked strained. "You're telling the truth, Harry." He said quietly.

"What does it matter? _No one _believes me!" She growled at him.

"Harry, of course it matters! We have to make them see the truth–"

"No, we _don't! _Just leave it the hell _alone, _Neville!" She suddenly exploded at him, taking the other Gryffindor completely by surprise as he flinched at her outburst and stared at her with wide eyes.

"Harry, we're just trying to help you–" Ron put a hand on her shoulder but she shrugged it off.

"I don't _need _your help!" She seethed, moving away from him.

"Look, all of you can just _stop _pretending like you care about all this and leave me alone, alright?! It's not like any of you gave a damn about me during the summer, I find it _stupid _that you're all trying to meddle in my life now!" Harry growled at them, and without warning, she began to stand up.

"Harry, _please—_" Hermione's voice almost sounded tearful as she reached out again and tried to clasp the other girl's hand. "We're not your enemy; we're on your side! It's perfectly simple–"

"No, it's _not, _Hermione!" Harry's eyes narrowed and she glared coldly at the other girl as she got to her feet. "Whatever this is, it's _not _simple! And you couldn't even begin to understand." She sighed angrily and shook her head before she grabbed her things and began stalking back up to her dorm room.

Ron, Neville, and Hermione all stared quietly after her retreating form, and just as Harry was heading up the stairs that led to the girls' dorm, she heard Hermione whispering tearfully to herself.

"Then _help _us to…"

Harry heard the way Hermione's voice shook when she spoke the words but she didn't look back, nor did she approach her three best friends again even when they had tried beckoning her over for dinner that night – or even the night after. Truth be told, she had been doing her best to avoid the three Gryffindors ever since the school year had started, and she was doing a particularly good job at it too.

It helped that Hagrid still hadn't returned from whatever it is he was doing – it gave Harry a reason to step out of the castle every now and then and go to his empty hut to feed his dog, Fang. Her weekly visits, however, were to keep herself company more than anything else, as she knew Hagrid had probably already assigned a caretaker or one of the house elves to feed his dog while he was away.

However, she was thoroughly surprised one weekend when, just as she was walking along one of the stone paths outside the castle towards Hagrid's hut, she paused when she caught a glimpse of a slender, red-haired woman sitting underneath a tree nearby that overlooked the large Hogwarts lake.

"Professor…?"

Autumn looked up from the large sketchbook she held in her hands slowly, her eyes warming at the sight of the younger girl approaching. When Harry hesitated for a few seconds, Autumn smiled at her and patted the patch of grass beside her in invitation before she turned back to her sketchbook.

"Harry…It's a wonderful morning, Care to join me?" She asked as she looked up again and rewarded the Gryffindor with another smile. "I was just admiring the view….This is a beautiful school."

Plopping down on the grass beside her, Harry arched an eyebrow in disbelief at her words before gingerly leaning back against the tree. "Beautiful school? I thought Beauxbatons had ice sculptures all around the hallways." She mentioned skeptically, earning a look of surprise from Autumn.

"Who told you that?" She asked curiously.

Harry rolled her eyes and answered her with a wry smile. "Fleur Delacour. She wouldn't shut up last year about how much more beautiful Beauxbatons was compared to Hogwarts." She explained, shrugging at her. "Though then again, Fleur Delacour doesn't shut up at all. Period." She quipped lightly.

Laughing, Autumn shook her head in amusement at Harry's comment and offered her a grin. "Well, I won't deny that Beauxbatons is a beautiful school as well, the inside is _filled _with ice sculptures and chandeliers and all sorts of beautiful things…But the exterior surroundings and architecture of Hogwarts is _so _much more beautiful. We didn't have the luxury of such exquisite views like this in Beauxbatons." Autumn told her, and despite herself, Harry couldn't help giving Autumn a curious smile.

"Why didn't you choose to teach in Beauxbatons, Professor…? Why Hogwarts?" She asked.

Autumn peered back curiously at her, her eyebrows fused as she seemed to ponder her answer. "I don't know, actually…I guess I just wanted a change of scenery?" She kidded, but when Harry didn't look convinced at her explanation, she smiled wryly and continued. "Mostly, it's because I wanted to avoid anyone I knew there…Seeing them will just remind me of the life I left behind." She said softly.

Harry looked surprised at her admission of this, but just as she was about to ask Autumn what she meant, the older woman shook her head at herself and chuckled. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to sound so grim, sweetie…Now…What are you doing all by yourself on a lovely morning such as this?" She asked.

Not to be deterred by her question, Harry's curious gaze had dropped to the sketchbook on Autumn's lap, and she raised her eyebrows at the drawing that Autumn had drawn of the Hogwarts lake. The picture, although it was only partially finished, was beautiful_, _and it depicted everything in their surroundings to the utmost detail, even up to the flurry of students hanging around outside the school.

Drawing her gaze back up to Autumn's sheepish smile, Harry shook her head to herself and looked at Autumn with a helpless smile. "Isn't there _anything _at all you're not good at, Professor?"

Autumn's lips twitched at the exasperated expression on Harry's face.

"…_Dancing._"

Blinking and pausing to make sure she heard right, Harry arched an eyebrow and stared at her.

"…What?"

Autumn chuckled at her again and she shrugged, closing her sketchbook and giving the younger girl a quirky smile. "You asked if there was anything I wasn't good at right? Alright, let me think…" She pretended to tap her chin in thought before she grinned and began to count off her fingers one by one.

"There's…dancing. Cooking. Singing. Balancing on one leg – I've always wondered how most people do that by the way. Then there's sewing…I'm also bloody terrible with packing by the way–"

Laughing genuinely for the first time in weeks, Harry shook her head at Autumn's antics and smiled back at her. "I'm completely detestable at dancing too, actually…So don't feel bad." She kidded.

Autumn returned her smile and shrugged. "Oh I'm sure your friends would have helped you through it. My friends were my saviors back in school…They had to teach me again and again how to dance _every _time we'd have a ball. Mind you, at Beauxbatons, that was…_every year._" She quipped lightly.

Without meaning to, Autumn's words had caused the amusement to fade from Harry's face. Suddenly coughing and deliberately averting her gaze from the older woman, Harry shrugged quietly. "Yeah well, my friends aren't exactly the 'supportive' type, Professor…." She muttered darkly to herself.

Having heard Harry's words, Autumn's eyebrows had suddenly scrunched up in surprise but thankfully, the red-haired woman said nothing. The awkward silence between the two of them dragged on for a couple of tense seconds, but just as Harry was on the verge of making something up to excuse herself from Autumn and head back to the castle, the Herbology Professor surprised her when she spoke up again, immediately stopping Harry in her tracks when she heard the seriousness of her voice.

"Harry…I believe you, by the way…" Autumn spoke softly, her eyes lingering not on Harry but on the blue, clear waters of the lake in front of them. "That He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named is back…And you fought him… and the entire Ministry _and _the Prophet are working together to try and portray you as a liar…" Autumn paused, and slowly turned her gaze to meet Harry's. "I believe you're telling the truth."

Momentarily stunned by the pure honesty she saw in the older woman's soft blue eyes, Harry stared back at her, unable to keep the relief and gratitude from roughening her voice. "I…Professor, I…" She let her voice trail off for a few seconds as she fought to regain her composure. Swallowing the lump in her throat, Harry took a deep breath and hastily blinked away the mistiness forming in her green eyes.

"Thank you, Professor…" She swallowed again and looked up, locking eyes with Autumn and giving her a shaky smile. "You're probably one of the only ones that don't think of me as a delusional liar…" She whispered quietly, shaking her head and sighing as she wrapped her arms around herself.

As she kept her head down, she failed to see the small frown that was marring Autumn's face.

"I don't think that's true…But then again, that's how he'd want you to feel." She said quietly.

"What do you mean?" Looking up, Harry blinked and stared back at her in question.

"Well…If I were You-Know-Who–" Autumn frowned again and withdrew her gaze from Harry, staring thoughtfully across the lake. "–I'd want you to feel cut off from everyone else…Because, well–" Autumn looked at Harry again and gave her a meaningful shake of her head. "–if it's just _you _alone… Then you're not as much of a threat." She let her voice trail off quietly, but the impact of what she had just said seemed to hit Harry in more ways than she realized, and she stared at the lake in concentration.

_That…makes sense._

When Harry glanced up again, she noticed that Autumn had stood up and was staring back quietly at her with a gentle smile. Without saying anything else, she beckoned encouragingly at the younger woman and offered her a hand. Nodding gratefully at her, Harry took her hand and stood up.

"It's starting to rain…Would you care to continue this conversation inside the castle, Harry?" Autumn asked warmly, waiting patiently as Harry dusted the grass off her skirt as she straightened.

Harry hesitated at Autumn's invitation for a few seconds, but when she finally glanced up and gave Autumn an apologetic shake of her head, Autumn's eyes softened and she smiled slowly at her.

"I'm sorry, Professor…But I think my friends are inside waiting for me."

* * *

Hermione made a face as she watched Ron stuff a chicken leg into his mouth. She watched in dismay as the redhead reached across the table and began helping himself to more mash potatoes. Ignoring the way Neville was laughing at her expression, she made a loud, sharp tutting noise of disgust.

"Don't you _ever _stop eating?" She asked the redheaded Gryffindor in exasperation.

Blinking, Ron looked up from his plate of food and glared at her in irritated exasperation.

"I'm _hungry._" He blurted out, as though it were the most the obvious thing on the planet.

Hermione's rolled her eyes at him, but when she opened her mouth again to give Ron another retort, Neville glanced up from the Gryffindor table and smiled at the approaching girl in front of them.

"Harry." He greeted quietly, causing both Ron and Hermione to pause and glance at her as well.

Smiling uncertainly at them, Harry stopped in front of Hermione's seat and froze, flicking her eyes back and forth hesitantly between them. "Hey…Can I join you?" She asked them with a small smile.

Ron and Neville smiled back slowly at her, while Hermione's eyes had turned slightly misty with relief. The brown-haired Gryffindor nodded wordlessly and huffed, reaching up to swipe at her eyes.

"Oh _honestly, _Harry! Come here!" She ignored Harry's surprised laugh and launched herself at the other girl, hugging her tightly and burying her tearful face into her shoulder. "You're such a git!" She huffed again, though the way she was hugging Harry tightly diminished the indignation in her voice.

Shaking her head at Hermione's antics, Harry turned her attention to her other best friends but when she saw the sly grin Ron and Neville threw each other, the smile on her face faded and she scowled. Growling, she pulled away from Hermione and walked right up to the two Gryffindor boys.

"You _perverts_!"

_**SHMACK! SHMACK!**_

Groaning loudly, Ron and Neville clutched at their bruised cheeks in pain, both boys watching helplessly as Harriet and Hermione smirked at each other before they sauntered calmly out of the hall.

* * *

Harriet's fifth year was seriously close to making her fourth year look like a walk in the park.

When the year had started, Harry hadn't realized how much Dolores Umbridge was planning to be a constant interference in her personal life – and the vile, toadfaced woman was proving her wrong.

Umbridge was _everywhere. _

Harry didn't realize it at first – it started when Harriet was walking out of her Transfiguration class one afternoon and had accidentally bumped into Draco, who smirked at her and teasingly reached out to pinch her waist, inadvertently causing Harry to give out a girlish squeak that drew the attention of the other students in the hallway. Before she even got the chance to glare at the blonde Slytherin for his perverted antics, however, Umbridge surprised everyone else when she suddenly appeared out of nowhere and had descended on both Harriet and Draco like a hungry vulture about to feast on its prey.

The pink-dressed woman had glared furiously at them and had started screeching loudly in a very high-pitched voice about the 'indecency of their display' and how 'respectable young ladies were not supposed to let boys touch her inappropriately'. And as if the humiliation of having everyone within a five-mile radius hear Umbridge shrieking about Harriet being 'touched inappropriately' wasn't enough, Umbridge had taken her hissy bit even further when she turned to everyone else watching around the hallway and started ranting about some asinine decree she was going to establish about propriety.

She wasn't kidding.

The very next day, as Harry and Hermione were walking out of the Great Hall, they saw Filch climbing down from the ladder he had used to nail a framed Decree on the wall opposite the Great Hall.

"Hogwarts Ministry Decree No. 1 – All students must maintain a distance of four feet from members of the opposite sex unless they are members of one's immediate family." Hermione read out loud with a stunned expression on her face. Gaping, she turned to Harry. "Is she serious with this?!"

"Apparently." Harry muttered under her breath, watching with a dark glare on her face as Umbridge entered the hall and smiled up at the decree posted on the wall. Then, whistling, she turned and deliberately shoved a Hufflepuff couple apart from each other as she passed right in between them.

Sighing, Harry was just about to follow Hermione back to Gryffindor tower when she caught sight of Draco Malfoy from where the blonde was standing between Crabbe and Goyle a few feet away. Draco was sneering disdainfully up at the decree posted on the wall as well, but when he saw her standing there, his expression changed and with a mischievous glint in his eyes, he headed towards her.

Ignoring the warning glare Harriet was giving him and the way she kept flicking her panicked gaze over to Umbridge across the hall, Draco had deliberately walked right up her and leaned down, pausing just as his face was literally inches away from hers. Then, still ignoring Harry's wide-eyed gaping at him; he turned so that he was smirking challengingly at Umbridge's enraged face across the room.

Seething with rage at the Slytherin's audacity, Umbridge's face had turned a dark, ugly purple.

"_DETENTION, MISTER MALFOY!" _She shrieked at him.

Still smirking, Draco arched both of his eyebrows, feigning a terrified expression at her words before he sneered at her again and shrugged, turning back to meet Harry's disbelieving stare. Despite herself, Harry hadn't been able to prevent her lips from twitching at his sheer nerve, but seeing her amusement at him; Draco winked at her and pinched her waist again, earning another girlish squeak.

_"ANOTHER DETENTION, MISTER MALFOY! I WILL REPORT YOU TO THE HEADMASTER!" _

When Umbridge had shrieked at him again, Harry ended up laughing in reluctant amusement as Draco beckoned to Crabbe and Goyle and strode calmly out of the hall with Umbridge right at his heels.

Unfortunately, the interference Umbridge was posing in Harry's school life didn't stop there.

When the DADA professor had begun to notice just how some of the Hogwarts girls, Lavender Brown and Pansy Parkinson in particular, liked to alter their Hogwarts uniforms – like how they made their blouses tighter or charmed their skirts shorter – Umbridge laid down yet _another _Ministry Decree. This time, it was about how "_all _students, whether male or female, were prohibited from wearing their uniform inappropriately and from wearing anything else that might draw unnecessary attention".

_That _certainly hadn't earned Umbridge popularity from both the male _and _female students.

In all honesty, however, it wasn't even all the silly decrees that Umbridge had kept proclaiming around school that was beginning to bother Harry regarding Umbridge's interference. Truth be told, she couldn't have cared less about whether Umbridge kept declaring decrees here and there about what color they should all wear or how they should all breathe air – _that _bit wasn't bothering Harriet at all.

What _bothered _her was the way Umbridge had kept _using _her dad's name to declare all _sorts _of ridiculous authority on herself, and what _irked _Harry most of all was that, upon examining all the decrees that were beginning to clutter the wall across the Great Hall, Harry noticed that on each one of them was the Minister of Magic's signature of approval. In fact, the graceful scrawl of her father was unmistakable, and the fact that Harry saw them on each of Umbridge's stupid decrees angered her.

_Dad couldn't really have authorized all of Umbridge's stupid decrees now could he? _Harry asked herself worriedly, her eyebrows fusing together as she stared up at the cluttered wall in front of her.

* * *

Umbridge's barrage of Ministry decrees was only just the beginning.

That week, the DADA professor had instigated about a _dozen _more of them, and most of them were so ridiculous in themselves that Harry had to wonder if Umbridge was even aware of how stupid and petty all of her decrees sounded to everyone else. The restrictions she was trying to impose were now bordering on _silly _– students were no longer allowed to talk for more than five minutes in the corridors; laughing boisterously was strictly prohibited, and _any _forms of public displays of affection were considered a _serious _major offense. Now, it was almost _funny _how Umbridge would stalk the corridors day and night, hexing any couple who got too close or who were making out in the shadows.

Fortunately, Harriet and Cedric had _yet _to be caught by Umbridge's prowling beady eyes, and that morning, as the couple was enjoying a late breakfast in one of the empty classrooms on the fifth floor, Harry couldn't help giving Cedric an amused smile as he glanced cautiously around the small room.

"Afraid of getting caught sneaking around and breaking the rules, Mr. Head Boy?" She teased him lightly, laughing when Cedric winced at this and turned around, giving her a slightly sheepish grin.

"Well…I'll admit that I don't want to get caught, but then again–" His voice lowered and his grin turned playful as he walked back to where Harry was leaning against the teacher's table in the front of the room. "–as you said, I'm Head Boy anyway…I can make exceptions." He murmured as he wrapped his arms around her waist and pulled her against him, taking a bite from the muffin she held in her hand.

Laughing, Harry put the muffin back down on the plate beside her and wrapped her arms around his neck. "I thought Hufflepuffs didn't like breaking the rules." She teased again, playing with the wisps of hair behind his neck. Cedric rolled his eyes at her but responded by playfully nuzzling her cheek.

"Well, we certainly don't completely _ignore _the rulebooks like you crazy Gryffindors do…But some of us are willing to throw the rulebook out the door given the _right _reasons." He told her pointedly.

Blushing at the flirtatiousness of his smile, Harry arched a single eyebrow at him.

"And what reason would you have for being here with me, Mr. Head Boy?" She asked.

Grinning, Cedric didn't answer her and instead leaned down, capturing her smiling lips in a long, passionate kiss that eventually left both teens flushed and slightly out of breath when he pulled away. When Cedric smiled at her again however, and was just about to lean closer for another kiss, they were startled out of their haze when the school bell behind them chimed sharply, causing them to pull away.

"Yikes." Cedric mumbled as he glanced quickly at the clock and winced, turning back and meeting Harry's slightly disappointed smile with an apologetic one of his own. Shaking his head at himself, he leaned down again and pressed his lips against hers in another long, deep kiss. "I have to go…" He murmured against her lips after a few seconds, neither of them opening their eyes. "I have Quidditch practice with my team in ten minutes; they're probably waiting for me now." He complained.

Laughing at the whine she heard in his voice, Harry playfully shoved him away from her.

"So _go _already and stop harassing young innocent fifth years, Mr. Head Boy." She quipped, earning herself a mock glare from her boyfriend. When she grinned at him, he sighed in exasperation.

"I _hate _it when you call me that, Harry." He grumbled as he began clearing their things away.

She laughed at this but obliged by giving him a quick, apologetic kiss on the cheek.

Chuckling, Cedric paused by the doorway of the classroom and rewarded her with one last smile before he left, closing the doors shut gently behind him. Just as Harry was about to follow him out, however, she groaned in exasperated amusement when the dark-haired Hufflepuff suddenly strode back into the classroom and yanked her into another kiss that had her all flustered when he pulled away.

When she gave him an admonishing glare, Cedric grinned and leaned down to whisper in her ear.

"Sorry…I missed you already."

Before she could retort, Cedric gave her another kiss on the cheek and left, leaving Harry rolling her eyes and shaking her head at his antics. When she finally managed to gather her things, she strode out of the room and quickly began making her way down the corridors leading towards the Great Hall.

When she got there, however, she noticed that another crowd of students had formed in front of the wall of Decrees. Shaking her head, Harriet hesitantly made her way through the mess of students.

"What's happening?" She asked just as she reached Ron and Neville at the very front of the crowd. Both Gryffindors were pale as they stared up at the latest decree Filch was posting on the wall.

_"Hogwarts Ministry Decree No. 30…The Ministry of Magic hereby officially appoints Senior Undersecretary Dolores Jane Umbridge as High Inquisitor of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry." _As soon as Neville had finished whispering the words out loud, he gulped and turned to Harry.

"That can't be good at all." Ron muttered under his breath, his expression grim with anger.

Nodding in agreement, Harry was unable to find her voice for a few seconds as she stared up at the decree in stunned silence, her gaze focused on her father's signature at the bottom of the paper.

"Why would Dad authorize something like this?" She hissed angrily, gritting her teeth.

Before either Ron or Neville got the chance to answer her, another sudden rush of footsteps and whispers suddenly drew all three Gryffindors' attention and they turned around, automatically following the crowd of students as they ran outside and stood a few feet away from the Hogwarts main entrance.

Frowning in confusion, Harry ignored Ron and Neville's protests as she wove her way through the large crowd again, stopping only when she reached the front and caught sight of the shocking scene that had drawn all of the students there. Gaping and sputtering in disbelief, Harry watched in stunned silence as Umbridge hurled an armful of clothing at Professor Trelawney's huddled form on the floor.

They exchanged a few words for a couple of minutes, and from where Harriet was standing, she felt pity for her old Divinations Professor welling up in her chest when Umbridge just sneered angrily at her and began insisting for her to leave the school premises immediately. When Professor Trelawney pleaded with her again, tearfully insisting that Hogwarts was her home, Professor McGonagall had rushed in and cut off the rest of Umbridge's nasty response as she gathered Trelawney in her arms.

Frowning, Harry, Ron and Neville watched as Professor McGonagall comforted a grief-stricken Professor Trelawney against her while glaring angrily at Umbridge's cold, indifferent smile at them.

"Something you want to say, Minerva…?" Umbridge asked the other woman sharply.

"Oh there are _several _things, I would like to say." McGonagall snapped back at her, but her voice softened when she turned back to Trelawney and began shushing her when she began to cry harder.

Fortunately, neither Umbridge nor McGonagall had the chance to say anything else because in that moment, Dumbledore had suddenly strode into the scene. Then, deliberately ignoring Umbridge's warning glare at him, he pointedly told McGonagall to escort Trelawney back into the premises and to instruct a few house-elves in the castle to help carry back Trelawney's things and luggage to her quarters.

Umbridge protested sharply at this, her eyes narrowing at Dumbledore as she spoke.

"Dumbledore, may I remind you that under the terms of Decree 30, as enacted by the Minister-"

Dumbledore glared back coldly at her, and for the first time since Harry started studying at Hogwarts, she saw pure anger in his blue eyes. "You have the right to banish my teachers, Dolores. You do _not, _however, have the right to banish them from the grounds. That authority remains with the Headmaster." He told her bluntly, frowning when Umbridge had just smiled back at him in response.

"For now." She agreed quietly, her beady eyes gleaming with malice.

Dumbledore didn't respond to her taunt as he watched her walk away, but when he turned around and began stalking back toward his office, he snapped angrily at all of the students staring at him.

"Don't you all have studying to do?!".

Startled at the uncharacteristic anger in the Headmaster's voice, most of the students around them dispersed immediately but Harry frowned and began to shove through the crowd towards him.

"Professor Dumbledore, sir…Wait! Professor Dumbledore!" She grunted when a younger Gryffindor girl accidentally bumped into her but she pushed past her and continued to chase after Dumbledore as he strode back toward the castle. "Professor Dumbledore, please! I have to talk to you!"

To her dismay, it was almost as if Dumbledore was deliberately ignoring her as he strode past Harry and stalked back up to his castle, leaving her staring helplessly after him from where she had stopped in the middle of the corridor. Frowning, Harry glanced around her, noticing that most of the other students had left now and only Ron and Neville were waiting for her when she had turned around.

Sighing, she shook her head at their queries and followed them quietly back to the Great hall.

* * *

Her nightmares were getting worse.

Harriet would make her way through a long, dark corridor until she reached a large, sealed door. This time, however, the doors would open and inside, she would walk through a dark maze of hundreds and hundreds of shelves, until she came across a tall shelf in the middle which was under her name.

She'd reach up for it, but then, a whisper of her name behind her would always draw her attention and she'd turn around, only to find herself staring into a pair of glowing bright red snake eyes.

Harry would always wake after that, gasping in terror – only to find herself in the Gryffindor girls' dormitory with Hermione watching her worriedly from where she sat on the bed across from hers.

More frustrated now than she'd care to admit, Harry had eventually taken Hermione's advice and had written to Sirius that same day, telling him about her nightmares and about how she was confused with all of the decrees the Ministry had been enforcing on Hogwarts since the year had started.

Thus, after she had sent Hedwig off with her lengthy letter to her Godfather, Harry was quietly descending the long, winding staircases of the Owlery tower that morning when, to her surprise, she heard a sound that suspiciously sounded like a hushed giggle coming from a couple making their way up.

Rolling her eyes, she pulled her jacket tighter around herself and was just about to move over to the side to let the pair through when, to her mild surprise, she caught a glimpse of platinum blonde hair. Looking up, Harry found herself staring into the equally surprised gray eyes of Draco, who had stopped in the middle of escorting a flustered Marietta Edgecombe up the Owlery. When the pair seemed to pause as Draco and Harriet struggled to find the words to acknowledge one another, Marietta spoke up.

"Potter…" She greeted stiffly, her eyes narrowing in disdain as she took in Harry's snow-stained jacket and dirt-smudged sneakers. "Finished sending off a letter, have you?" She asked with a false smile.

Blinking and slowly averting her eyes from Draco to Marietta's perfectly made-up features, Harry finally managed a nonchalant shrug in response and shoved her mitted hands into her pockets.

"A few, yeah… You should be careful going up these stairs, it's a bit slippery. Are you two headed up?" She asked back politely, lifting her gaze and meeting their expression with an awkward nod.

To her dismay, the way the blush on Marietta's cheeks darkened answered Harry's question for her, and in her embarrassment, she began to blush as well so she tore her gaze away from the couple.

"Y–yeah, Draco was just escorting me up so I can send my letter." Marietta lied smoothly, but when Harry looked up again, the smirk Draco was giving her told her otherwise and she blushed darker.

"O–oh…Right…Well, I'll get out of your way then." Harry rushed out hastily, still wincing as she stepped aside and began making her way down the staircase again to avoid Draco's teasing grin at her.

"Potter."

Belatedly realizing that this time, it had been Draco calling her instead of Marietta, Harry must have paused in mid-step and turned around too quickly, because the next thing she knew, her foot had slipped and she gasped as she began to fall backwards. From a few steps above her, Draco's eyes had widened in alarm at this, and instinctively, he pulled away from Marietta and rushed over towards her.

"Watch it, Potter!"

* * *

"Watch it, Potter!"

Draco felt a mixture of immense relief and irritation wash over him as he managed to catch the dark-haired Gryffindor in his arms and pulled her upright, both teens completely failing to notice the way his arms had involuntarily tightened around her when he felt a shiver wrack her slender frame.

Blinking, Harriet gaped stupidly up at him for a few seconds, unaware of the heavy blush that was beginning to stain her pale cheeks. When Draco arched an eyebrow at her, she began to stammer.

"O-kay…That was thoroughly and awkwardly embarrassing…Err…Thank you, Malfoy–"

"What the hell is wrong with you, Potter?!" Draco retorted, narrowing his eyes.

Although the way he had snapped at her was laced with irritation, Draco was unable to prevent an amused smile on his face as he glanced down at Harriet's sheepish expression. "Are you purposely trying to get yourself killed or are you just _really _this naturally clumsy?" He drawled, rolling his eyes.

When Harry glared at him for a few seconds, unable to think of a coherent response, Draco spoke again. "Then again, you really _do _make a habit of falling all over yourself whenever you see me… If I didn't know any better…I'd say it was just an excuse to get me to touch you all the time." He mocked.

That got the Gryffindor's attention immediately, and as Draco expected, the embarrassed flush on her lovely features quickly transformed into a scowl. "You wish, Malfoy." She growled indignantly.

Draco grinned as he released her, but when he saw the flake of snow that had somehow fallen on the tip of her pert nose; he couldn't prevent himself from chuckling and reaching over towards it.

"You've got snow on your nose, Potter." He teased, using a single finger to gently flick it off.

Harry wrinkled her nose adorably at the contact but she stuck her tongue out at him and made a face. "And _you've _got snow in the brain, Malfoy." She quipped, causing the both of them to laugh softly.

"Sweetie?"

_Huh…? Oh right…Marietta. _Frowning, Draco blinked himself out of his self-induced daze of watching Harry shake the snow out of her long, wind-tossed black hair and slowly turned around to meet the annoyed glare of the Ravenclaw girl waiting for him a few steps away. As though she noticed his distraction, Marietta's scowl deepened and she narrowed her eyes at him in growing impatience.

"Are we going up now? I'm _shivering_ here." Marietta pointed out as she began tapping her foot against the ground. "Potter can take care of herself! Can we go before we freeze?" She complained.

Draco stared blankly at her for a few minutes, and for the life of him, he was _genuinely _trying to remember why he had been accompanying her up to the Owlery in the first place. When it hit him, and he finally remembered that the Ravenclaw had asked him to accompany her for _more_ than just conversation, Draco realized, with a jolt of shock, that right then and there – _to him_ – the idea of spending five minutes accompanying Harriet Potter back to the school was suddenly much more appealing to him than the hour he had expected to be spending making out with his own girlfriend.

_Don't you think there's something unmistakably wrong with that logic?_ He mocked himself.

The thought disturbed him immensely, but Draco found that he could not keep himself from entertaining it anyway as he turned back to Marietta and gave the Ravenclaw a quick smile of apology.

"I…_changed _my mind actually…" He drawled back calmly, ignoring the way Harry had glanced at him in surprise and the way Marietta's eyes had flashed in indignation at his refusal. Shrugging, Draco arched an eyebrow at Marietta's furious expression at him and rewarded her with a charming smile.

"I think…I'm going to accompany Potter here back down to the grounds…You know, just in case the bloody git slips again, we can't allow ourselves to be responsible for that. She is, after all, our dear Minister's only…precious little daughter." Draco's voice had turned sickly sweet near the end of his sentence, and he had mocked Harry further when he reached over and deliberately pinched her cheek.

Flushing at his words and angrily swatting his hand away, Harry glared at him and hissed under her breath. "What are you doing?! I'm _fine, _Malfoy! Go with your girlfriend! She looks furious with you–"

_Well I'd much rather go with you, Potter. _As soon as the thought had registered in his head, Draco scowled and immediately cast it away.

"That's okay…I have to grab something in my dorm anyway, Potter." Draco evaded smoothly.

"B–but…" Marietta looked torn between wanting to maintain her immaculate composure while at the same time, wanting to tear Draco's eyes out. "Dray, I'll freeze up there, I didn't bring a jacket. You said you'd accompany me back to the castle too, didn't you?" She tried to argue with him but to her further astonishment, Draco cut off the rest of her protests when he began to shrug off his winter jacket.

"Here…Use mine. You can give it back to me when you get back to the Great Hall, I'll wait for you there while you owl your letter." Draco interrupted her with a smirk, handing the flabbergasted Ravenclaw his jacket and pointedly ignoring the way Marietta was gaping at him as though he was densest guy alive on the planet. Taking the jacket from him, she blinked at him for a few more moments.

"Draco, that wasn't what I meant–" Marietta opened and closed her mouth in stunned disbelief.

"I er–I think I'll head back down–" Harry bit her lip hard, desperately trying to muffle the laughter that was threatening to escape her at the dumbfounded expression on Marietta's pretty face.

Draco turned to her and grinned. "Shall we, Potter?" He quipped, but when he offered the Gryffindor his arm, she growled and swatted it away before stalking off. Chuckling to himself, Draco quickly followed after her, ignoring the way Marietta was still gaping after them as they walked away.

As soon as they were both out of earshot, Harriet turned to him and, ignoring the way the Slytherin's lips were twitching with mirth, she let out an exasperated growl and swatted his shoulder.

"You arrogant _prick! _I can't _believe _you used me as an excuse!" She growled at him, but when Draco just laughed harder at her words, Harry felt a reluctant smile tugging on her lips. "If Edgecombe comes after me and tries to scratch my eyes out, I'm taking yours instead,Malfoy!" She warned darkly.

"Hey, I just saved your life back there, Potter. You should be thanking me! It's not everyday I'm generous enough to willingly accompany you down to the castle so gallantly like this." Draco huffed at her, but when Harry just raised an eyebrow and gave him a derisive scoff, Draco's lips twitched again.

"On that note, I would like to thank you, Pothead." Draco offered his hand for support to her when she crossed a cracked step along the staircase. "For what?" Harriet absentmindedly took his offered hand and clung onto it for few seconds before she realized what she was doing and pulled away.

He shrugged at her and unconsciously grabbed her arm again when they walked over a few slippery steps. "You gave me an excuse to _not _have to go all the way up the Owlery and spend the next hour listening to Marietta rattle on and on about which pastel colors match her hair. I mean–don't get me wrong or anything, making out with her is fun but I can't stand all of the boring talk before that–"

Blushing darkly at that, Harry yanked her arm away from his again and shook her head to herself. "Ugh…Too much information, Malfoy… Please don't start speaking 'guy talk' in front of me, I'm a girl you know." She mumbled under her breath, and if anything, her words caused Draco to smirk at her again.

"Prove it."

Harry glared indignantly at him, her eyes narrowing at him in outrage.

"Prove that I'm a girl?! I don't have to prove anything to you, Malfoy–_ARGH!" _Squeaking indignantly when Draco had, once again, pinched her waist, she growled and punched him on the arm.

"Stop poking me, you _pervert!_" She screeched at him, and at the way Harry's cheeks had darkened considerably in feminine embarrassment, Draco's shoulders began to shake with laughter.

"You _do _squeal like a girl, Potter."

"You _jerk!_"

He laughed at her again and this time, in spite of all of her reservations about him, Harry actually found herself joining him in his laughter despite the fact that she still kept punching him on the arm.

"_Jerk." _Punch. "_Pervert." _Punch. "_Prick_." Punch. "_Prat." _Punch.

Draco made a face as he pushed her fist away, glaring at her and rubbing his abused shoulder.

"Merlin, Potter…You're so violent and physical all the time. If the girls I dated were even _half _the brute you were, then I'd probably have to be twice as huge as Crabbe or Goyle to survive a date–"

"Oh really, Malfoy?" Harry smirked and arched at eyebrow at him in challenge. "If the girls you dated were even _half _the 'brute' you say I am, you'd be looking for more than excuse to run away from them like you did today." She grinned at the cringe on his face and asked again. "What was up with you and your girlfriend awhile ago, anyway? If you don't like her, then why are you dating her?" She asked.

Draco rolled his eyes at her question but chuckled again just as they had managed to reach the bottom of the staircase and began heading back to the main entrance of Hogwarts Castle. "We're not serious or anything… We went out on a few dates since the year started. And I wasn't avoiding her at all. Sometimes, there are just…_things_…that have more priority over others." Draco only realized the implication of his words the minute he had said them and his eyes widened in alarm. He glanced back at the Gryffindor beside him but to his relief, Harry just blinked at him with confusion etched in her face.

"What do you mean by that, Draco?" She asked him, but when she glanced at him again, Draco hastily turned his face away so she wouldn't see the blush that was beginning to seep into his cheeks.

_I mean…I like spending time with you more than I like spending time with my girlfriend._

"Nothing, Potter." Draco coughed to himself and quickly turned his face away from her so she couldn't see the shocked realization plastered on his face. "Anyway…We're almost there–" He managed to divert Harriet's attention again by pointing to the large castle doors a few meters in front of them.

Frowning slightly, Harry looked as though she was just about to ask him something again but fortunately – or rather, _unfortunately _for the two of them – a loud familiar voice suddenly drew both teenagers' attention away from each other and they looked up – right into Umbridge's angry sneer.

"Miss Potter…and Mister Malfoy."

They tensed in anticipation at the dangerous warning they heard in the High Inquisitor's voice.

"In my office…_Now._"

* * *

"–a disgrace to yourself, _and _your father! I can _not _believe your audacity, Miss Potter! For such a young lady like yourself to be seen gallivanting around the school with a male student…_Without _a proper chaperone is bad enough!" Umbridge took a deep breath of air and sneered disapprovingly at Harriet's seething form from where the black –haired Gryffindor was seated across her from her table.

"But to be _seen _ in the company of the son of a _Death Eater _is absolutely _unacceptable–"_

"He's _not _a Death Eater!" Harry raged back at her, slamming her fist angrily on the table. "Don't you think I'd _realize _something like that?! Stop trying to make it out to be more than it actually is–"

"And pray tell, _what _is it then, Miss Potter?" Umbridge's eyes narrowed mockingly as she stared the younger girl down from across the table and shook her head. "Do you _take _me for a fool? I _know _how idiotic teenage girls are, and don't think for one _second _that I don't know what's really going on–"

"_Nothing's _going on!" Harry snapped back at her, and in that moment, she was thoroughly grateful that Umbridge had already sent Draco back to his common room – if only for the fact that she hadn't anticipated actually defending the Slytherin in front of Umbridge so adamantly like she was now.

"Draco and I were just _talking! _Merlin's beard, I would think that if he wanted to kill me, he'd have done so already, Professor!" She mocked sarcastically but Umbridge just narrowed her eyes at her.

"_Silence!" _ She tried to snap at the younger girl, but Harry was far from finished.

"I mean…What the bloody hell is it to _you _anyway, _Professor, _if I talk to Draco or not?! If fact–" Harry's eyes blazed and for the first time since the TriWizard cup last year, she felt the inexplicable urge to fight back and speak her mind – exactly the way she wanted to. "–while we're at it, what gives _you – _just another pawn of my father – the right to order me around or to try and control my life like the rest of those assholes in the Ministry?! Who the bloody _hell _are you anyway?!" She raged furiously at her.

Utterly stunned and choking with shock at the unexpected display of unrestrained anger from the dark-haired Gryffindor, Umbridge blinked a couple of times and gaped at Harry in outrage. "How _dare _you speak to me like that, you ungrateful, insolent brat?! Your _father _appointed me this year to–"

"To _what?!" _Harry's eyes flashed violently and unaware of her own actions, she stood up from her seat and slammed both of her palms down onto Umbridge's table. "To watch me, to manipulate me, to _control _me, to keep from fighting back?! To do _what _exactly_, _Professor?! Are you trying to tell me that my father hired you to make sure I'm a good little girl and I keep my mouth shut?!" She challenged.

_"_How _dare _you, you ungrateful, disrespectful child?! We are trying to protect you!"

At Harriet's outburst, Umbridge had also risen from her seat and loomed over her, her face flushing purple. "The Minister of Magic…Hired _me…_To make sure you don't get yourself _killed_!" Then, ignoring Harry's blazing green eyes, she reached into her drawer and yanked out another blood quill.

"Now sit down, Miss Potter! For your insolence, you will write this phrase a _hundred _times before you may be allowed to leave this office – I will _NOT _associate with people of bad influence–"

_"No!_" Harriet answered flatly, crossing her arms and sneering angrily at her in contempt.

"What did you say to me?!" Umbridge's eyes were nearly bulging out of their sockets.

"I said _NO, _Professor!"

"_WHY YOU INSOLENT, HORRIBLE LITTLE BRAT! WHEN I TELL YOUR FATHER ABOUT THIS–"_

"Go ahead and tell him then." Harry challenged her sarcastically but she ignored Umbridge's sputtering, angry shrieks as she stood up calmly from her seat and began to gather her things. "In fact, while you're at it…Why don't you tell my Grandfather and Peter too? I'm sure they would _love _the opportunity to have another excuse to ship me off to St. Mungo's. But consider this–" Narrowing her eyes, Harry glanced back at Umbridge again and felt a surge of satisfaction when she saw the way the High Inquisitor was practically beside herself with rage. "–if you ship me to St. Mungo's, then think how the press will practically _jump _at the opportunity to smudge the entire Ministry of the scandal. The Ministry will never recover from the shame." She told her bluntly, sneering wider when Umbridge paled.

"You see…" Umbridge whispered breathlessly, her eyes growing wide as she stared at Harriet's dark expression with a look of foreboding. "You see…I _knew _it…They've got you entrenched in their ways already, don't they, Miss Potter…? That boy…He's _already _beginning to influence you…To turn you against your own father and the people who want to help you…" Then, to Harry's disgust, Umbridge's smile suddenly turned sickly sweet and she tried to reach out and pull the younger girl into a tight hug.

"Let me _help _you, my dear child… Let me help you, I can still _save _you… I will protect you. Your father has entrusted me to take care of you, I can protect you from all those trying to hurt you–"

"People who want to _hurt _me?" Harry jerked away from Umbridge and stared up at her with horrified eyes, her expression dripping with disgust. "You're the one who's insane…_Professor_." She pushed the older woman away from her and turned around, heading towards the exit of the office.

As she walked away, she failed to see the way the smile on Umbridge's face began to twist into another angry, menacing growl. "Miss Potter, if you walk out that door–" Harry stopped just as she was reaching for the handle. "–I will _personally _see to it that your father…your grandfather…_and _the entire Ministry knows that you have chosen to side against them by associating yourself with…_the wrong sort._"

Pausing just as she was about to turn the doorknob, Harriet's eyes narrowed in realization at Umbridge's words and slowly, _very slowly, _she released the doorknob and turned around to face her.

"…chosen to…_'side against them'_…?" Harry stared intently at her, as if reading the older woman clearly for the first time. "You speak as if…we're already in the middle of a war…" She whispered quietly.

Her eyes widening in shock, Umbridge could only stare back at her, unable to say anything else.

For her part, Harry glared quietly at Umbridge in silence, her eyes narrowed as she took in the realization in the older woman's beady eyes. "You said…There was nothing to be afraid of…Professor?"

Harriet stared calmly at her, shaking her head before she strode purposefully out of the room.

* * *

"That disgusting, toad-faced _bitch!_"

Wincing at the raw anger that she heard emanating from her dark-haired godfather's voice, Harry glanced up and watched with a wary expression on her face as Sirius seemed to struggle with himself for a few minutes as he took in everything she had told him about Dolores Umbridge that night.

As was their usual ritual every school year, when Harry had written to Sirius about wanting a chance to talk to him, the Head Auror had responded by arranging a late meeting between them via the fireplace in the Gryffindor Common Room when everyone else was already asleep. Now, as Harry sat there in front of the fireplace and stared uncertainly at her godfather's angry features floating right in the middle of the large, roaring fire, she sighed and wrapped her arms around herself in exasperation.

"Sirius, keep it down. Otherwise, you'll wake everyone in Gryffindor tower–"

"How do you expect me to take something like this lightly, Harry?! That woman uses a blood quill on my goddaughter…And she tries to do it _again, _and she says she's there to _protect _you?! What the hell was your father thinking sending her to Hogwarts after you?! Has he gone bloody mental?!" He raged again, but this time, Harry was thankful for the fact that he had lowered his voice to a soft hiss.

Sighing again and shaking her head, she winced at his words and buried her face into her hands. "I don't know…I don't know _anything _that's going on right now, Sirius. Frankly, that was the reason I wanted to talk to you. You remember those nightmares I told you I kept having during the summer? The ones about the long corridor?" When Sirius nodded at her, Harry bit her lip and reluctantly continued.

"Well…They're getting much worse…" She told him, and when Sirius stared at her in question, she continued further. "I get them almost every night now…And it always ends the same way… I'm reaching for something…Always something out of my reach. I don't know what it means, Sirius." She admitted quietly, lifting her eyes from the carpet again and meeting her godfather's grim expression.

"Have you–" He hesitated for a few seconds before he continued. "–spoken to Dumbledore or anybody else about them?" He waited until Harry shook her head before he asked again. "Why not?"

Harry couldn't help the scoff of derision that escaped her lips. "I haven't been able to tell Dumbledore _anything. _Hell, I haven't even gotten the chance to _talk _to him at all since the year started. If I didn't know any better…I would say he's avoiding me. I don't know why." She admitted bitterly.

To her confusion, Sirius had nothing to say at this. Instead, he frowned slightly at her but remained silent and carefully averted his gaze from her face. When a long moment of tense, awkward silence passed between them, Harriet's eyes narrowed slowly and she began to glare impatiently at him.

"I…want to see Dad at the Ministry of Magic." Harry began slowly, but when Sirius' eyes had flashed and he looked as though he was about to contradict her, she shook her head stubbornly and continued. "I want to talk to him about everything…I want to ask him _myself _what's going on and why he hired Umbridge to tail me this year, I _need _to know!" She raged at him, her voice trembling with anger.

To her frustration, Sirius just glared back warningly at her and shook his head at her request.

"Harry, I'm sorry but I can't let you go to the Ministry right now–"

"Sirius, I haven't _seen _Dad since this summer, I have a right to talk to him! I'm his _daughter, _I _have _a right to know what's going on, damn it!" Harry hissed at him, and in spite of herself, her voice had cracked near the end of her sentence and she looked away sharply so Sirius couldn't see her tears.

Sighing heavily and running a hand through his hair in frustration, Sirius massaged his temples as he tried to think of what to say. His next few words suddenly drained all the blood from Harry's cheeks.

"The Ministry of Magic is no longer safe for you, Harry."

Blinking a few times and staring quietly at the weary expression on her godfather's face, Harry watched him in disbelief for a few seconds – as though she was waiting for the punch line of a very poorly delivered joke. When Sirius just stared back grimly at her, her face began to pale in realization.

"I don't understand." She whispered quietly.

Sirius' eyes darkened. "The Ministry…Is in complete _disarray _right now." He paused, running a hand through his hair again. "If you've been reading the newspapers lately, you'd have noticed that the different heads of departments are beginning to disperse…They're falling out of loyalty for your father…And I can't really say that I blame them." He added somberly, his lips curling into an angry sneer.

Breathing heavily and shaking her head at his words in disbelief, Harry spoke again. "B–but… I still don't understand. Are they going against Dad now or something? Why would they do that? Why–"

"_Because…_James hasn't exactly been doing a good job these past couple of months…In fact…Harry, I hate to say it, but your Dad has been doing a _lot _of questionable things around the Ministry lately. There have been…a lot of_ extreme _actions he's authorized." Sirius was beginning to look weary again as he looked at her and met her eyes. "All those raids and violent assaults on those witches and wizards who were accused of being Death Eaters…The Ministry has even been bringing in muggles now… Or at least, those that they suspect have been hiding Death Eaters in their homes. It's utterly ridiculous."

He paused and took in a deep, shaky breath before he continued. "I can't say I fully support everything James is doing nowadays…But I haven't been able to talk to him at all lately." He admitted.

Harriet looked shocked at this. "Why haven't you been able to talk to him?" She asked.

Sirius' eyes darkened again and he scoffed, glancing up and giving her a derisive look. "He _won't _talk to me, Harry… Remus and I have been trying to go up to his office for _weeks _now to try and arrange a meeting with the stubborn git but he's been sending us away again and again, snapping at us that he's too busy and all his usual rubbish." When he noticed the anger on Harry's face, he continued. "Last week…When I finally managed to make it past his doors, he and Peter suddenly snapped at me and had a couple of my own Aurors accost me and drag me out of his office." Sirius growled at that, his gray eyes flashing indignantly. "My own Aurors, Harry! Would you believe that?! They dragged me _out _like a–"

"What?" Harry blinked rapidly and gaped at him in confusion. "But…That doesn't make any sense, Sirius! _You're _the Head Auror, aren't you? They shouldn't just drag you around like that when–"

His eyes glinted at her words and he leaned closer and lowered his voice into an urgent whisper. "Ah but that's just _it, _Harry…I _haven't _had control over my own bloody department for _weeks _now, would you believe that?" When Harry's face had paled considerably at this, Sirius clenched his hands into fists. "Haven't you been reading the newspapers about all those rogue Aurors out in the streets?"

When Harry gulped but nodded slowly at him, he scoffed and sneered angrily to himself. "That wasn't me, Harry…I never authorized _any _of those attacks. The Ministry has been completely bypassing my authority as Head Auror altogether and has been going straight to James for approval." He growled.

After an unnerving silence that stretched too long for them both, Sirius glanced at her again.

"After your Dad had me hauled out of his office, I went to your house the other day to try again…And do you want to know what happened?" He asked, his eyes narrowed in angry contempt.

Harry was almost afraid to hear the rest of his story, but she nodded for him to continue.

"Your _grandfather _was there…And he told me that James was too busy to talk to me and tried to send me away." Sirius gritted his teeth and clenched his hands again. "When I tried to insist, Augustus _threatened _to have me banned from the premises." As he said that, Sirius' face had gone completely white and he turned to Harry with an expression of utmost fury on his face. "He…_threatened _to have me removed from the premises, Harry. Never… In all the years I knew your father… Did James _ever _attempt to ban me from his house. Hell, he even let me hide there when my _own _family was out searching for me when I ran away from home." Sirius sighed in exhaustion and he finally buried his face into his hands.

When he met Harry's worried green eyes again, Sirius winced and slowly looked away.

"Something's wrong, Harry…" He ignored the way his goddaughter had stiffened at his words. "Something's…_very _wrong… Honestly…? It's…beginning to feel a lot like it did before…Back…when…"

As though he had just suddenly realized the direction his words were taking, Sirius suddenly fell silent and let the rest of his sentence trail off. Even then, Harry already knew what he was going to say.

_Back when Voldemort first rose to power._

Harry swallowed the painful lump in her throat and wrapped her arms around herself.

"Sirius…Is…Is Dad okay?" She asked him quietly.

Clenching his fists even tighter, Sirius could only gaze back helplessly at her, completely at a loss for what to say. "I'm…sorry, Harry…" He managed a weak, comforting smile at her but shook his head grimly. "I wish I had the answer to that, sweetheart, I really do…But to be honest with you… I'm just about as confused abut these last few months as _you _are." His eyes darkened again and he looked away.

Harry glared angrily at his evasiveness, her wide green eyes beginning to glisten with fear.

"Is Dad okay, Sirius?" She asked him again, her voice now noticeably sharper than before.

"He's _fine, _Harry." Sirius answered just as sharply, but the fear in his eyes spoke otherwise. Then, ignoring the disbelief he saw in her eyes, he glanced at her again and spoke to her in a careful whisper.

"Harry… Listen to me very carefully, okay?"

Her eyes narrowed at his voice but she nodded and bent down closer to the fireplace to listen.

"The Ministry is no longer safe for you…Whatever happens, Harry…I want you to _stay _in Hogwarts at all costs…Do you understand me?" He began quietly, waiting for her to acknowledge him.

Harry nodded again, blinking away the tears of fear for her dad's safety gathering in her eyes.

"I want you to stay near Dumbledore…You stay wherever he is, he'll keep you safe. You can trust him, I promise. And If _anything _happens…_Anything _at all…you write to me right away… Not to your Dad, not to your Grandfather…You write directly to _me, _Harry. Do you understand?" He asked her sharply.

She nodded at him again, somehow finding the voice to speak. "I understand." She croaked out.

"Stay with your friends, Harry…There's safety in numbers, don't you ever go off _anywhere _on your own. I want you to promise me this one, Harry…I _know _you." Sirius gave her a sharp, knowing look.

"I promise." Harriet whispered back, her voice sounding strange and hollow.

Despite his fear, Sirius managed a shaky, comforting smile at her. "Don't worry, love… I'll get to the bottom of this. Everything's going to be alright little Prongs, I promise. Oh and Harry?" He paused.

When Harry said nothing but just stared expectantly at him again, Sirius glanced at his goddaughter and finally managed to tell her what he's been wanting to say for a few months now.

"I'm _sorry_ I didn't believe you this summer… I believe you now, little Prongs."

His words were barely audible to anyone else but Harry heard them perfectly, and despite the fear that was pounding in her chest, she was unable to prevent the tears of immense relief from flooding her eyes. Smiling shakily back at him, she nodded and raised a hand to wipe her tears away.

"Sirius?"

He stopped just as he was about to turn away and glanced at her again, raising his eyebrows.

"Can you promise me that Dad is going to be okay…?"

Sirius met her gaze steadily, and without any second of hesitation, he gave her a firm nod.

"I promise, Harry."

* * *

**A/N: **Who doesn't love Sirius Black? He's one of my favorite characters in the entire HP series. :D

**Next Chapter: **...Dumbledore's Army. Need I really say more? :D :D :D :D

**Until then, please don't forget to leave me your wonderful reviews, lovelies! Cheers, love, peace, and all that jazz, I'll see you guys next update! :D**


	14. Dumbledore's Army

**Harriet Potter and the Minister of Magic **

**Disclaimer:** I don't own Harry Potter or any of the characters you recognize from the HP books in this story. All I own is the plot. Everything else belongs to JK Rowling.

**Pairings**: DM/femHP (eventual). CD/femHP. RW/HG. BZ/GW. JP/LP (past). SS/LP (one-sided).

**Warnings:** Spoilers from canon (Books 4 to 7). Occasional time jumps from chapter to chapter. Mature content later on.

**Notes: ** Wow… I've really been rolling in the chapters for the past few days, haven't I? I'm sure you guys don't mind anyway. Oh and by the way…I just _know _you guys are going to love me for this chapter… *giggles* So without further ado, happy reading everyone! :D

* * *

**Chapter 14 – Dumbledore's Army **

Harriet sat alone in front of the fireplace of the Gryffindor common room that morning, her face grim as she listened to the latest news reports concerning the Ministry of Magic. Her father and Peter had been relaying the same story over and over again to the public whenever they asked the Ministry of Magic about the recent string of disappearances lately – they were blaming it all on the Barty Crouch Jr.

She was so caught up in her thoughts that she didn't notice when Hermione eventually spoke up behind her, causing Harry to stiffen and turn around slowly to meet the other girl's somber expression.

"He really is out there, isn't he?"

Hermione's voice was soft as she walked to the window at the other end of the room. Her dark brown eyes were not on Harry but were focused intently on the dark, stormy outside of Hogwarts Castle. At this, Harry wasn't able to say anything, and after a long pause, Hermione finally turned to face her.

"We've got to be able to defend ourselves." She proclaimed quietly, looking up and meeting Harry's uncertain green eyes with a resolute expression. "And if Umbridge refuses to teach us how, then we've got to find someone who will." She continued, her eyes narrowing as they focused on Harriet. "Someone… Who knows how to fight back… Someone who's actually had experience in facing dark wizards head on…" She whispered, carefully watching the mixture of emotions on her friend's features.

Harry stared back at her, her eyebrows fusing together in slow realization.

"What are you suggesting, Hermione?" She asked quietly.

The brown-haired Gryffindor remained silent and stared back intently at her.

"It's _you, _Harry."

* * *

"This is _insane, _Hermione! Who'd want to be taught by me? The last time I checked, I'm still a delusional, attention-whore to everyone else out there, remember?!" Harriet hissed furiously at Hermione as she followed the other girl, Ron, and Neville through Hogsmeade toward Hog's Head pub.

Ron nudged her lightly in encouragement. "Look on the bright side, Harry… Being taught by you is definitely a lot better that being taught by old toadface." He pointed out, earning a glare from Harry.

"Thanks, Ron."

"I'm here for you, mate."

Rolling her eyes, Harry chose to ignore the way Neville had muffled his laughter under his breath and followed Hermione as the brown-haired Gryffindor pushed through the doors of Hog's Head and led all four of them inside. As soon as the group had found themselves a small, isolated table near the back of the room, Hermione managed a tight-lipped smile and patted Harry's shoulder in encouragement.

"I've sent word to those I thought would be interested in listening to what we have to say. They should be arriving any minute now." She told them, rolling her eyes when she saw the way Harry's face began to pale. "Oh _relax, _Harry… You don't have to worry about _anything, _I'll talk to them." She insisted, but unfortunately, her words did nothing to quell the sick churning feeling in the pit of Harry's stomach.

_Why did I even agree to this? _She groaned to herself, shaking her head.

To her further dismay, that churning feeling only heightened when, just as Hermione had told them, a good number of Hogwarts students began to gather around the small, broken-down establishment. Much to Harry's surprise, the group that Hermione invited turned out to be a rather fair mixture of students from Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, _and _Ravenclaw – all of which were now gathered around the pub and were turning every now and then to stare questioningly at Harry and Hermione.

"Blimey, Hermione…" Neville suddenly whispered under his breath to the other Gryffindor. "You didn't tell us that you invited the entire school in here, how are we all going to fit?" He asked pointedly.

Blushing slightly at his remark, Hermione shook her head and looked faintly worried. "I didn't actually expect _all _of them to accept my invitation. In any case, the pub is big enough Neville. We should be fine." She assured him, though from the look on her face, Harriet couldn't quite tell if she was sure.

Harry's final test of nerves, however, had come when to her immense shock, a small group of Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff students had walked into the pub. As soon as Harry had recognized the tall, familiar frame of her boyfriend walking directly towards her from the entrance, she flushed, and she couldn't help reaching across the table and swatting Hermione furiously on the arm to get her attention.

"You invited _Cedric_?!" She asked furiously under her breath so that he wouldn't hear.

Rubbing her sore arm, Hermione glared back pointedly at her as though she were insane.

"Well _duh, _Harry, he's your _boyfriend_, why wouldn't I invite him?" She retorted, scoffing at her.

"But…I can't teach Cedric about DADA, he's _levels _above me! What if I make a complete fool of myself?" Harry protested again, but her words accomplished nothing but make Hermione roll her eyes.

"So you'll make a complete fool of yourself then." Hermione answered bluntly, sighing in exasperation. "_Honestly, _Harry… He's your _boyfriend_! If you can't make a fool out of yourself in front of _him_, then I just can't see how you'd be willing to do it in front of anyone else." She pointed out calmly.

Harry's cheeks began to redden again and she glanced pleadingly at Hermione.

"'Mione, I'm begging you to reconsider and think everything over again–"

"Hey there, Gorgeous."

Squelching the rest of her protests, Harriet forced a smile onto her face and looked up just as Cedric had reached her and wrapped his arms around her waist. Blushing, she glared warningly at Ron and Neville when her two friends began to make a face, and allowed Cedric to greet her with a quick kiss.

"Hey, Ced…" She answered weakly as Cedric took the seat right next to her. "I uh… Hermione didn't tell me that you were coming to this…" She managed to say, letting out a self-conscious laugh.

He grinned at that and shrugged, leaning casually against his seat. "Are you kidding me? My ultra hot girlfriend is going to be teaching us DADA this year? I wouldn't miss it for the world." He teased, but when he leaned over and gave her another kiss, Hermione joined Ron and Neville in making a face.

"Guys…_focus_." She complained, causing Harriet to blush and Cedric to laugh good-naturedly.

Fortunately enough, Cedric's reassuring reaction to everything had calmed Harriet's nerves somewhat, and she found that she was able to relax a little more and wait until the rest of the group had arrived. When a group of Ravenclaw girls entered, however, and Harriet saw Cho Chang and Marietta Edgecombe walking to them, she couldn't help scowling when she saw Cho waving to Cedric.

"Hey Cedric. Hey Harry." Cho greeted with a warm smile as she took the seat beside Cedric and Marietta took the seat beside hers. "Have you guys started yet?" She asked curiously, glancing around.

Fighting back her irrational annoyance with the other girl, Harry shook her head just as Cedric answered. "No, you guys are just in time. To be honest, I didn't expect this big of a turn out though." He mused out loud, reaching across Harry and resting his arm casually against the backrest of her seat.

"Yeah, well neither did I." Harry muttered her breath so that the other teens couldn't hear her.

After a couple more minutes, when Hermione finally decided that no other students were going to arrive, she gave Harry a quick, pointed look before she stood up from her seat and addressed them.

"Hi everyone." Hermione glanced around the room nervously, meeting everyone's curious gaze. "So…You guys all know why we're here. We're here because we need a teacher. A proper teacher." She paused, meeting Harry's eyes for a split second. "One who's actually had experience against the Dark Arts." She would have continued but Zacharias Smith, seated a few seats away, had rudely cut her off.

"Why?" He asked bluntly.

"Why?" Ron mocked loudly, drawing everyone's attention to his irritated expression. "Because You-Know-Who's back, you _tosspot._" He snapped, causing Smith to glare angrily at him in disbelief.

"Says _who?_" He snapped back, cutting off Hermione just as she was about to speak again. "_Her?" _Smith's eyes narrowed and he scoffed as he glared at Harriet's brooding figure across the room.

"Give us one good reason why we should believe Potter and all of her lies about the Dark Lord. What if the Prophet's right and she's just making everything up? We could all get into serious trouble–"

"Zach." Cedric interrupted him, his voice sounding strained as he frowned warningly at his housemate. "Dumbledore supports Harry… As do I. Hermione's right, we need to face the truth now–"

"The only reason Dumbledore supports her is because she's his favorite student. Don't think we all don't know that." Smith retorted, causing the other Hufflepuffs behind him to nod in agreement. "The point is… Where's the proof?" With that, he glanced at Harriet again and narrowed his eyes at her.

"Why should we risk being expelled just because Potter says You-Know-Who is back? Even the Ministry of Magic doesn't believe her…Her own _father _doesn't believe her. I mean… We all know why _you're _here, Diggory." He scoffed, rolling his eyes at the Head Boy. "But what about the rest of us? Why should _we _believe her? " He pointed out, his loud mocking voice causing Harry to seethe with anger.

Frowning, Cedric reached over and placed his hand over Harry's to hold the Gryffindor back.

"Stuff it, Smith." Neville suddenly spoke up, causing everyone to stare at him in surprise. "No one _forced _you to come today, so if you have nothing _intelligent _to say, then just shut up!" He raged.

Before Smith could retort again, however, the younger Hufflepuff beside him – Ernie Macmillan – hesitantly spoke up as well. "Well…Although I agree with Hermione that we should know how to defend ourselves. Maybe–" He glanced hopefully at Harry. "If Potter can tell us what really happened that night during the TriWizard Tournament…Then maybe we'll all be more inclined to believe her–"

"I'm _not _going to talk about the TriWizard Tournament, Macmillan." Harry cut him off coldly, surprising everyone else when the Gryffindor had finally spoken for the first time since the conversation started. "I'm not going to talk about my father or the Ministry either. So if that's the only reason you're here, then you can all clear out now." She told them, her eyes flashing as she stood up from her seat.

When everyone else seemed to stare wordlessly at her, Harriet held back the interesting barrage of insults and curses that were threatening to spill out of her mouth and turned to Hermione.

"Let's get out of here, Hermione." She muttered angrily as she began tugging on the other girl's arm. "The only reason they're here is because they think I'm some kind of freak. I'm _not _doing this–"

"Harry, _wait–"_

The two Gryffindor girls wrestled with each other for a few seconds, hissing under their breath.

"They all think I'm a _liar!_" Harriet hissed furiously at her, her cheeks burning with indignation.

"That was just Zacharias Smith, not everyone else agrees with him! Harry, _wait–_"

Harry managed to wrestle her arm free from Hermione's death grip and she was just about to storm the hell out of there when, to her surprise, Luna Lovegood spoke up from the corner of the pub.

"Is it true that you can produce a Patronus Charm?" She asked curiously, causing everyone in the room to pause in the middle of all their whispers and turn to face the blank-faced Ravenclaw.

Momentarily taken back by her question, Harry stared back at Luna with wide green eyes. When Hermione noticed that her friend couldn't find the voice to speak, she answered for her instead.

"Yes." Hermione managed a small smile and nodded, flicking her gaze back to Harry. "Yes, she can… I've seen it. Her godfathers, Sirius Black and Remus Lupin, taught it to her when she was _eleven. _She mastered it in one week." Hermione added, ignoring the way Harry was glaring at her in warning.

"Blimey, Harry." Fred Weasley suddenly spoke up with a grin from where he was standing between George and Lee Jordan. "I didn't know you could do that." He mused with an impressed grin.

Flushing at the surprised amazement on everyone's face, Harry nudged Hermione sharply.

"Hermione, _stop_–"

"And that's not all that she can do." Hermione added, pointedly cutting through Harry's protests. "I've seen the kind of training Harry received from her godfathers… She once killed a Basilisk back in second year, did you know? It was hiding in the Chamber of Secrets." She continued with a small smile.

This time, Cedric's eyebrows had risen up and he stared at his girlfriend in blatant shock.

"How did you do that, Harry?" Dean Thomas piped up, his eyes wide with astonishment.

Flustered at all the disbelieving stares she was receiving, Harry opened her mouth to respond but this time, it was Ginny who cut her off. "She used the Godric Gryffindor sword in Dumbledore's office." She answered, giving them a grin. "I was there…I saw her fighting the Basilisk head on. She, Ron, and Neville were down in the Chamber of Secrets looking for me." She told them, causing another flurry of whispers to erupt around the small group. "Harry almost died trying to save me." She added quietly.

Glancing at Ginny, Harriet caught the quick smile of apology the younger Gryffindor sent her way – and for a few seconds, she remembered the inexplicable flurry of events that had happened that year. If she and Hermione hadn't discovered in time that the magical diary Ginny had been passionately writing in had belonged to the Dark Lord, and was ultimately what was controlling the red-haired Gryffindor to commit all those attacks around school, they would never have saved her in time. As it turns out, Ginny had discovered the diary hidden away in one of the forbidden sections of the Hogwarts library. After their second year, Dumbledore had that section of the library completely sealed away.

"The summer before our fourth year…When Harry and I were in the Ministry of Magic and I accidentally wandered off and got lost–" Neville paused and glanced at Harry, giving her a rueful smile. "I ended up in the Dark Artifacts quarantine…She came looking for me and had to fend off an entire _horde _of dementor guards who were scouring the area." He told them, shaking his head at the memory.

Harry stiffened at his words as she thought back on the horrifying experience of practically dragging a nearly-unconscious Neville along after her as the two of them ran through the Ministry's corridors, trying desperately to get away from the dementor patrol guards who were closing in on them.

Truthfully, the experience had plagued her with nightmares for _weeks. _

"And all that doesn't even include how she won the TriWizard Tournament last year." Ron piped in, but when Harry glared at him, he raised his hands in defense. "I'm just saying, you know." He added.

"Our point is…The Ministry has kept all of that covered up until now." Hermione suddenly spoke again, drawing everyone's attention back to her. "Harry is _not_ what the Prophet or the Ministry is making her out to be. Like last year…She really _did _end up fighting off You-Know-Who in the flesh–"

"Hermione, _wait."_

The brown-haired Gryffindor paused and turned to glance quietly at Harry beside her, watching uncertainly as the other girl seemed to struggle with herself to find the right words to say. When she glanced up at them again, she sighed slowly and looked around, her green eyes peering grimly at them.

"Look, it all sounds _great _when you say it like that…But the truth is… Most of that was just pure _luck._" She sighed again, shaking her head when Hermione tried to interrupt her. "Looking back at what happened…The truth is…I didn't know what I was doing. I nearly _always _had help. It wasn't about _skill_–"

"She's just being modest–"

"No, I'm _not, _Hermione." Harry cut her off, giving her a sharp glare. She turned to meet all the faces watching her from around the pub. "Facing this stuff in real life is not like school." She began softly. "In school, if you make a mistake, you can always try again but out there…When you're a _second _away from being murdered or from watching a friend _die…_" Her voice broke and she looked away. "That's_ different. _You don't know that that's like. You're…_forced_…to fight. So you can survive." She whispered.

Harry looked at them again, staring at all of the faces watching her with rapt attention.

"Now if you're willing to realize that…Then I can help you." She finished quietly.

After a long moment of awkward silence, most of the students staring back at her began to nod slowly. Just as Hermione had looked around and was about to speak up again, a loud, forceful 'bang' suddenly came from the front doors of the pub, causing everyone around the room to gasp in surprise.

"You _know, _Granger." Draco Malfoy's snide, drawling voice suddenly broke through the tense silence as he, Blaise Zabini, and Theodore Nott all walked calmly into the cramped pub. "If you're going to cram this many people into a place like this, you should probably think about closing the windows. Unless you want everyone who walks by to think you're having an inter-house tea party, then by all means." He smirked, causing everyone else in the room to gape at him as they realized what happened.

"O–oh, right." As Hermione flushed in realization and hastily rushed to the back to close the windows, Zacharias Smith and Ernie Macmillan both scowled angrily and glared at the new intruders.

"Sorry we're late." Blaise Zabini pointed out lazily as the three tall Slytherins took a table near the back of the room. "But we had a bit of trouble finding where this 'Hog's Head' was. You see, our lot hasn't exactly been to this section of Hogsmeade before." He drawled, causing Hermione to roll her eyes.

"We usually stay in the upper part of the village, you see." Theodore Nott added, chuckling.

"Oh whatever, the three of you just _sit _down." Hermione snapped at them, shaking her head.

"What are _they _doing here?!" Macmillan suddenly raged at Hermione, his eyes flashing daggers as the three tall Slytherins turned to face him. "They're Slytherin _scum, _they might get us in trouble! Plus, you invited _Malfoy!_" He raged loudly, pointing at the sneering blonde and shaking his head furiously.

"He's a junior Death Eater!" Colin Creevey added in agreement from behind Ernie, but he squeaked nervously and hid behind the other boy again when Draco narrowed his eyes warningly at him.

"Macmillan's right, why are _they _doing here?!" Another Hufflepuff called out.

"Yeah, we should probably kick them out!"

"What if they're in league with You-Know-Who?!"

Sighing loudly in angry exasperation, Hermione walked up to the front of the room again and stood in front of Harry, shaking her head furiously at all of their accusations. When she somehow managed to get all of their attention, she took a deep breath and began to speak in a loud, clear voice.

"I invited them here, actually." She began quietly, wincing when she was met with a horde of furious glares from everyone else. "I remember how it was Malfoy here–" She acknowledged the blonde with a stiff nod. "–who stood up to Umbridge first about needing to learn how to fight back in DADA class. And well, since that sort of gave me the idea of this group, I decided to invite them." She explained.

"But Hermione…" Cedric's concerned voice suddenly interrupted them, drawing both Hermione and Harry's gaze to his worried frown. "Are you sure we can really trust them?" He whispered quietly.

From the back of the room, Draco heard his question and scoffed at the older teen. "Can we trust _you, _Head Boy? Aren't you like… Dolores Umbridge's favorite student? Don't think I don't notice she favors _you_ whenever we have Prefect meetings." He mocked, causing Cedric to flush red with anger.

"That's completely _different–_"

"Oh _is _it?" Draco cut him off again with a challenging sneer. "Who's to say that _you _won't go telling on everyone in here? You have a lot to gain from doing that, after all." He pointed out smugly.

If possible, the angry flush on Cedric's cheeks darkened even more at Draco's words.

"You arrogant…obnoxious…self-absorbed…_tosser_–"

"_Stop it!" _Harriet suddenly cut them both, drawing everyone's attention back to her angry frown. "Look, if Malfoy, Zabini and Nott are willing to join this…well, whatever this _thing _is…then let them. Hermione's right, you know." She withdrew her gaze from the way Cedric and Draco were still glaring at each other and addressed everyone else around the pub. "If we're going to have _any _chance of succeeding…If we're going to have _any _chance of beating Voldemort–'" Everyone in the room flinched at the mention of the Dark Lord's name. "–then we're going to have to work _together._" She finished calmly.

The group fell completely silent at this, and for a few minutes, everyone in the small pub stared off into empty space and avoided each other's eyes. When Hermione smiled gratefully at Harry and stepped to the front to address everyone again, Ernie Macmillan suddenly cut her off rudely once more.

"Fine. But before I agree to anything else, I'd like to question why we all seemed to have decided that _Potter _is going to be leader. I mean, why should we let a prissy little Daddy's girl lead us–"

Flushing in indignation at his words, Harriet felt her hands clenching into tight, angry fists.

"I never _asked _to be the leader, Macmillan! If that doesn't bode well with you, go ahead and–"

"_Petrificus Totalus!" _

At the sound of Ernie's cry of pain and the loud, dull thud that followed, Harriet and Hermione both jerked their heads up in surprise and stared at the scene in disbelief. Draco was smirking to himself as he calmly tucked his wand back into his pocket and leaned back against his seat. Behind him, Zacharias Smith and Colin Creevey were gaping as they stared at Macmillan's petrified form on the floor.

After muttering something under his breath to his two smirking housemates, Draco shared a quick chuckle with Blaise and Theodore before he turned to Harry again and arched an eyebrow at her.

"Well? Carry on, Fearless Leader. We're listening." He drawled, flashing the Gryffindor a lazy grin.

Harry's lips twitched at his innocent expression, but she managed to give him a quick smile of gratitude. Then, taking a deep breath, she turned back to Hermione and nodded in quiet agreement.

"Okay…First thing's first…We'll need a place to practice." Hermione glanced expectantly at them.

When everyone fell silent again and Harry had no choice but to look up and scan each of their individual expressions in question, Draco spoke again, diverting their attention back to his wry smile.

"I know a place."

* * *

Harriet followed Draco into the large, training room in silence, her eyes growing as wide as she took in their surroundings. A few steps behind her, grasping onto Harry's hand, Hermione looked equally surprised as she entered the large training room and took in all of the magical equipment, floor mats, and mannequins that were scattered about the room – obviously for the purpose of specialized training.

Chuckling at the expression of awe on both girls' face, Draco stopped in the middle of the room and turned to face them with a small smirk. "I found this room a few weeks ago while I was doing my Prefect rounds…It wasn't a training room at the time but a large stock room." He paused and watched as Hermione and Harry walked around the room, inspecting the equipment lying about in quiet fascination.

"The next time I went looking for it, I wanted a good place I could use to study…And when I entered the room, it had turned into a private study area." Draco mused to himself. "That was when I figured there was something about this room… So I asked Professor Snape and he told me." He smirked when Harry accidentally bumped into a mannequin, causing it to tumble noisily to the floor. When the black-haired Gryffindor looked up and smiled sheepishly at him, Draco chuckled and walked over to her.

"It's called the _Room of Requirement…_Apparently, the room transforms itself into whatever you need it to be at the time. And it won't show itself to a person unless you knew _exactly_ what you were looking for… I figured it'll be a good place to meet up." He told them, waiting for both girls' reaction.

Her eyes bright with excitement, Hermione turned back to him and nodded gratefully. "It's _exactly _what we were looking for, Malfoy. This is _great; _we'll be able to meet in here without being found out by anyone else." She mused, and when she turned around to inspect one of the stocked bookshelves at the back of the room, Draco shrugged and turned back to glance questioningly at Harry.

The other Gryffindor was peering curiously at her own reflection using one of the mirrors scattered around the room. When she noticed that Draco was looking at her, however, she slowly drew her green eyes up and turned around to face him, meeting his questioning gaze with a grateful smile.

"This is wicked, Malfoy…I'm impressed." She teased, earning a light laugh from the blonde. "So exactly how long have you been using this room for your own…_personal interest?_" Her lips twitched when Draco inadvertently flushed at the implication of her words and he gave her an indignant glare.

"I don't use it for anything _dirty, _Potter, if that's what you're implying–"

"I didn't say anything!" Harry protested, her shoulders shaking with laughter. "Merlin's beard, Draco, get your head out of the gutter!" She was still laughing as she walked past him over to Hermione.

As she did this Harry failed to see the bemused look that Hermione was casting back and forth between the two former archrivals from across the room. Draco definitely noticed this, however, and he glanced lazily at her, arching one of his eyebrows and directing a particularly nasty sneer at the brunette.

"Something on your mind, Granger?" He asked irritably.

"Oh nothing." Hermione quickly replied, but he could have sworn he saw her smirking before she drew her gaze away and glanced around the room again. "Something I just noticed." She quipped.

Draco's eyes narrowed warily at her expression but he decided not to push the issue further. However, when Hermione suddenly spoke up again and told them that she was just going to run upstairs quickly to Gryffindor tower for something, Draco and Harriet both stiffened as they watched her leave.

As soon as Hermione had left, closing the door quietly behind her and leaving the two former archrivals awkwardly staring at each other in the empty training room, Draco began to fidget to himself. Fortunately, Harry seemed not to have noticed his discomfort as she turned around again and walked over to the corner of the room where she found a small cupboard stocked with an assortment of items.

Curious, Draco watched as the Gryffindor slowly reached over and took out a silver diadem from the cupboard before she grinned and placed it gingerly on the top of her head. Then, to his amusement, when she turned around to face him, Harriet flashed him a cheeky grin and pretended to strike a pose.

"How do I look?" She quipped, but her lips twitched when Draco just arched an eyebrow at her.

"Like an idiot." He drawled flatly, his expression so deadpan that Harriet laughed. However, when she struck another pose and grinned unrepentantly at him again, Draco was unable to prevent himself from rolling his eyes. He approached her slowly and leaned over her, reaching for the diadem.

"You look _much _better without it." Draco told her softly as he wove his fingers carefully through the long, soft strands of her hair and touched the diadem, his eyes never leaving her flushed features. Even with the dim light of the room, Draco couldn't help but notice that Harriet's eyes were vibrant green as she smiled back at him and he stood there, mesmerized for a few seconds at the exquisite sight.

_She's…beautiful. _He suddenly thought to himself, his eyes softening as he let his gaze travel from her eyes, her hair, her pale cheeks, until his eyes were moving down almost caressingly to her lips. Unaware of the direction of his thoughts, Harriet was staring questioningly at him – and Draco had to force himself to look away sharply when he caught the way she was biting her lower lip in confusion.

"…Malfoy?"

Swallowing audibly, Draco was able to break himself free from his blatant staring at her when he heard her using his last name. Coughing, he managed to glance up and force a smirk on onto his face.

"Take this ridiculous thing off, Potter." He teased weakly as he reached for the diadem again and lifted it off her head. Unfortunately, as he did this, Harry had looked up and caught sight of something on the back of his hand. Frowning in realization, she reached up and caught his hand in tightly in hers.

"Malfoy…what is this?"

* * *

"Malfoy…what is this?"

Harry couldn't have restrained the anger in her voice even if she tried as she gripped Draco's hand tightly in hers. Ignoring his protests, she slowly turned it over, paling in shock as she was met with the sight of the painful looking scratches that were spelling out something in dark red against his skin.

_I am the son of a Death Eater._ She read silently, her stomach churning in barely restrained rage.

Swallowing painfully, Harriet stared quietly at him and spoke up in a soft, broken whisper.

"I'm so sorry."

Draco winced at the unmistakable regret he heard in her voice and shook his head firmly, pulling his hand away from her and tucking it quickly into his pocket. Using his other hand, he tried to divert her attention by placing the diadem back into his cupboard and pretending to give her an irritated glare.

"It's nothing, Potter… Now where did you get this stupid diadem anyway–"

"No, Draco… It's _not _nothing." Harry whispered quietly, and before she realized what she was doing, she took his hand gently in hers again and turned it over. "It was _Umbridge…_I know she did this."

Finally sighing in defeat, Draco managed to shrug stiffly at her and quickly withdrew his gaze from her so that she couldn't see his expression. "It's fine, Potter." He scoffed quietly to himself. "It's really nothing I haven't heard before. That's what everyone thinks of me anyway." He muttered bitterly.

Harry stared back uncertainly at him, not saying anything at first, but eventually, she lowered her gaze and gave his hand a squeeze. When Draco blinked and looked at their hands in question, Harry surprised them both when she used her other hand and gently slid her fingers over the angry wounds on his skin in a slow, gentle caress. When he lifted his gaze and stared at her, Harry gave him a small smile.

"…_not _everyone." She whispered, fighting the blush that was beginning to stain her cheeks.

He met her gaze intently, not saying anything. For a few chilling moments, Harriet was almost afraid that he was going to laugh in her face but to her astonishment, when she looked up and locked eyes with her former archrival again, his expression had softened and managed a weak, wry smile at her.

"I don't think your father would appreciate your opinion, Harry." He whispered back softly. When she stared at him again, there was an expression in his eyes that Harry couldn't quite recognize.

Harriet shook her head and squeezed his hand, her eyes gazing intently into his gray orbs. "It doesn't matter what he thinks…I…_don't _think you're a Death Eater, Draco." She told him quietly, and when his eyebrows had arched slightly at her words, she continued. "You… don't give off the vibe that I got from all the others… You're…_different._" She told him, taking another shaky breath when she finished.

Draco was watching her quietly, both of his eyebrows raised in query. When Harry didn't elaborate her words further, one corner of his lips lifted into a weak grin and he chuckled to himself.

"Thanks…I think?" He smiled ruefully at her, causing Harry to laugh at his expression.

"I meant that in a _good _way, you prat–" She smiled again when Draco chuckled at her words. "–I meant that I think you're a good person. No matter how hard you try to prove otherwise." She told him.

At her words, Draco smiled genuinely at her this time – and for a moment, she was completely taken back when she realized how handsome her formal rival had truly become over the past few years. Pulling his hand back gently from hers, Draco reached over and chucked her chin up gently – something Harry remembered he hadn't done since their fourth year – and smiled at her when she glared at him.

"I think you're different too, Potter…_Weird…_But different nonetheless." He teased.

She smiled at him again, and by now, there was no mistaking the fact that her cheeks were almost as red as the Gryffindor tie she was wearing. Dropping her eyes and looking away, she inadvertently spied the painful scratches on his hand again and winced, grasping it back in her hand.

"Those look really painful, Draco." She said quietly, causing Draco to shake his head at her words but, surprisingly, the Slytherin didn't pull his hand away this time and he let her inspect the wounds.

"It's nothing compared to a scratch of a Hippogriff." He tried to tease her again, bringing up the Hippogriff incident that had occurred in their third year – when Draco had inadvertently been attacked by a Hippogriff that Hagrid had brought to Care of Magical Creatures class. His father had filed a case against the half-giant but, as expected, James Potter had ordered Hagrid innocent and closed the case.

"That's not funny." She retorted, but she looked away so he couldn't see her restraining a smile.

He scoffed at her but when Harry continued to inspect his hand in silence, he spoke again. "These are nothing, Harry…Really, I'm fine. I've already told my father… He's working on a way to get old toadface sacked." He told her, but when she glanced at him uncertainly, he arched an eyebrow at her.

"What?"

Sighing, Harriet let his hand go and slowly pulled back her robe sleeves, hesitantly showing Draco the red scratches were barely healing on the back of her own hand. To her surprise, the minute Draco saw the words _'I must not tell lies'_ written against her skin, his eyes narrowed dangerously.

He snatched her hand in his and snapped at her with a sharp, clipped voice.

"She had no right to do that to you."

"She didn't have the right to do that to _you _either–"

"Don't be a fool, Potter!" Draco snapped again, cutting her off and sneering at her in annoyance. "I _am_ the son of a former Death Eater, _of course _she'll be able to get away with doing this. _You, _on the other hand, are the daughter of the Minister of Magic, why didn't you tell Dumbledore?!" He demanded.

Shocked at the way he was practically seething and biting her head off, Harriet felt a surge of anger erupt in her chest. "And who do you think you are telling me what to do, Malfoy? My _Dad?!_" She raged back, and before she realized what she was doing, she yanked her hand away and glared at him.

"I didn't tell Dumbledore because I'm not going to give that woman the bloody satisfaction! I'm not afraid of her; I can take care of myself!" She snapped, but she gasped sharply when Draco grabbed her hand again and pulled her back to him so that their faces were mere inches away from each other.

"Potter, _stop!_" Draco took a few shaky intakes of breath for a few seconds, as though trying to calm himself down, before he managed to glance back up again and meet her glare. "Look, Harry…" He began slowly, and this time, Harry relaxed slightly when he heard her using her first name. "I just–" Draco ran his free hand through his blond hair in frustration. "–you should stay away from Umbridge."

When she blinked at him in confusion, Draco hesitated, struggling for the right words to say.

"You shouldn't have to get hurt." He looked frustrated with himself as he told her this.

"I don't understand." Harry stared at him, shaking her head at his words. "Why not?"

"_Because…_" Draco let out another sharp, pained sigh and looked up, locking his intent gaze directly with her wide, green eyes. When she continued to stare at him in baffled silence, he leaned towards her until his lips were ghosting over hers and their foreheads were nearly grazing each other.

"…I don't want you to." He whispered.

She completely froze at that, drawn in by the softness of his whisper and the way his eyes were focused intently on her with such a strange, heated expression that her breath hitched in her throat. Blushing nervously, she dropped her gaze until she was staring at his lips –inches away from her own.

_I don't understand at all. _Harry thought silently to herself, her gaze still lingering on his lips.

Just as their eyes were beginning to close and Draco was leaning in towards her, the entrance doors behind them suddenly burst open, instantly causing both teens to stiffen and jerk their startled expressions to the front of the room. The hand that Draco was using to grip Harry firmly in place loosened and his expression shuttered as he quickly took a few steps away to distance himself from her.

"Sorry, I took so long guys, I was just looking for–"

Hermione cut herself off in the middle of her own sentence and froze when she saw the strange behavior of the other two students in the room. By then, Harriet was blushing furiously and she looked completely flustered as she pretended to glance at a nearby mirror. Meanwhile, Draco looked too suspiciously nonchalant, and he was purposely trying to avoid her gaze by gingerly adjusting his collar.

"Is everything okay in here with you guys?" Hermione asked slowly, directing her question to Harry but before the other Gryffindor could answer, Draco nodded his head sharply and cut them off.

"We're fine, Granger. Anyway, if you guys are okay with this room, I'd better go." He turned and gave an awkward nod of farewell to Harry, waiting until the Gryffindor hesitantly nodded back before he turned and quickly strode out of the room. As soon as he was gone and the door had shut quietly behind him, Hermione arched an eyebrow at Harry and studied the flustered expression on her friend's face.

"Are you okay?" She asked worriedly, taking in Harry's ruffled state. "What happened?"

Shaking her head, Harriet was frowning in bewilderment in the direction Draco had gone. If Hermione leaned in any closer; she would have heard the rapid pounding of Harry's heart in her chest.

"I'm not quite sure."

* * *

"We need a name." Hermione announced to the large group that was entering the Room of Requirement. She watched as most of the other students studied the room in awe, while the rest had gone to the front and were now lounging lazily on some of the mats that they spread around the area.

"Army of Death?" Colin Creevey pointed out with a wide, quirky grin.

Harriet hid a smile when she heard Blaise and Draco scoffing loudly and shaking their head. Chuckling at him, she turned to give Colin a pointed look. "Maybe something a little less dramatic than that, Colin." She told him with a wry smile, to which the other Gryffindor flushed slightly but nodded.

"How about something completely inconspicuous? Study group?" Cedric suggested, but Draco scoffed again and sneered at him just as he sat down on one of the mats near the front of the room.

"That's lame, even for _you, _Diggory." He drawled, earning an irritated glare from Cedric.

"I don't see _you _coming up with anything, Malfoy." Cedric retorted angrily.

"The Defense League…? " Marietta Edgecombe suggested as she sat down beside Draco. "Or maybe twist the words around? The League of Defense?" She added, but Hermione shook her head.

"It has to be something a little more catchy…Something we'll all be able to remember." The brunette told them, watching as all the other teens seemed to stare off into empty space in thought.

"Magic Defense Army?" Neville piped in. "We could call it MDA for short?"

"How about just Defense Army, Neville? DA for short." Ron offered with a quick shrug.

Harry raised her eyebrows to herself, considering the idea. "That doesn't sound bad, actually." She turned to Hermione. "Plus, DA can stand for a lot of things too… Like Defense Army… DADA Army– "

"Draco's Army…." Draco quipped, earning a laugh from Harry and the rest of the other teens.

"Death Army?" Colin Creevey pointed out again, causing Blaise Zabini to glare irritably at him.

"Enough with the Death, Creevey!" He growled, causing another ripple of laughter around them.

"Dumbledore's Army…?" Cho Chang suddenly suggested, and at her words, Harry and Hermione suddenly stopped and turned to face her. When both Gryffindors met each other's gaze, they nodded.

"Why Dumbledore's Army though? Won't that draw attention to us?" Cedric asked them curiously, but even before Harry got the chance to answer, George Weasley spoke from across the room.

"Because it's Umbridge's worst fear come true!" He quipped, causing another chorus of laughter.

"Then it's settled then." Hermione announced loudly, her brown eyes gleaming with excitement. "We're Dumbledore's Army… DA for short." Grabbing a long piece of parchment from her bag, she wrote down 'Dumbledore's Army' in big bold letters on the top and began to pass it around the group.

"Everyone, sign your names in here, and we'll get started!"

* * *

To Harry's pleasant surprise, Dumbledore's Army was quickly turning out be a _very _good idea.

Despite a lot of protests in the beginning, mostly from Zacharias Smith, Theodore Nott, and a few more students who thought that starting with the basics was a waste of time, Harriet had opted to begin their first DA meetings by teaching the two most basic defense spells – _Expelliarmus _and _Stupefy._

"Oh for Merlin's sake, Longbottom!" Draco tapped his foot impatiently and glared at Neville's pale form standing a few feet away. "Are you as completely useless as you appear to be?! I'm waiting, just _disarm _me already!" Draco complained loudly, causing a few of the other students to look at them.

Glancing at them from across the training room, Harriet hid a smile and called Neville's attention.

"You're just flourishing your wand too much, Neville. Try to relax and hold it steady. Here, try it like this." Harry took her own wand out of her pocket and pointed it directly at Draco.

"_EXPELLIARMUS!" _

Draco cursed as his wand slid out of his grip and floated towards Harry's outstretched hand.

"No fair, Potter! I wasn't ready yet!" He complained loudly.

Surprisingly enough, as it turns out, there were quite a number of students – including the upper years – who still hadn't mastered either spell, and from there, the complaints had died out immediately. As soon as Harry had managed to pair everyone off and began walking around the room to try and monitor their progress, the flurry of disarming spells around the room began and she quickly realized that not only was everyone learning from one another – but they were all actually having a lot of fun.

"Stunning is one of the most useful spells in your arsenal. It's a wizard's bread and butter really." Harriet announced to everyone as she walked back to the front of the room. "So go on then, face your partners and give it a try…Alright, on my count, I'd like for you to try and stun each other…One…Two–"

"_STUPEFY!" _

Glancing up in alarm at the sound of someone casting the spell, Harry's eyes widened and she had to hold back the smile on her face when she caught sight of Colin Creevey staring in bewildered shock at the sight of Blaise Zabini sprawled haphazardly on the mat in front of him. When the other DA members began to laugh at the scene, Harry shook her head and gave Colin a mildly admonishing look.

"Creevey…Next time wait for my signal." She pointed out wryly, causing the younger Gryffindor to offer her a sheepish smile. "But good work." Harriet winked at him, earning a few more hearty laughs.

When she turned back to the rest of the group again and signaled that it was okay for them to start practicing on their own with their partners, Harry had looked up just in time to see Ron approaching Hermione and giving the brunette a reassuring smile. Around them, the rest of the DA members nearby saw their little exchange and began to form a circle around the pair in avid interest.

"Don't worry…" Ron told her, giving her an arrogant smile. "I'll go easy on you, 'Mione."

Hermione blinked slowly, and an incredulous look was on her face as she stared back at him.

"Thanks Ronald." She retorted wryly, but Ron failed to notice the thick sarcasm in her voice.

When the two Gryffindors had faced each other again and Harriet began to count out loud, everyone in the room gaped in amazement when, at the count of three, Hermione had expertly pointed her wand at Ron and, without any moment's hesitation on the brunette's part, called the spell loudly.

"_STUPEFY!"_

Ron gave out a high pitched, strangled cry of pain as he was thrown a few feet backwards from Hermione and crashed noisily into a large bookshelf situated on the other end of the room. Wincing in pain and grumbling under his breath, Ron flushed with embarrassment as he got back up to his feet.

When he looked up again and noticed that most of the girls around the room, including Harriet and Hermione, were huddled together and giggling at him, the flush on his face darkened even more.

"Way to get her attention, Weasley." Draco quipped from where he, Blaise and Theodore had witnessed the scene, and were watching Ron limping back towards Hermione with matching smirks.

"Oh shut up." Ron muttered under his breath at the three sniggering Slytherins.

"Neville." Harry called out to Neville about an hour later, drawing the other Gryffindor's attention away from the decidedly bored expression on Draco's face. The Slytherin was standing a few feet away from him, watching in disinterest as Neville tried in vain to cast the disarming spell properly.

"Focus on a fixed point and try again." Harry suggested, adjusting the position of his wand.

Sighing, Neville watched her walk away but he obliged and pointed his wand at Draco again.

_"EXPELLIARMUS!" _

Draco smirked at him and feigned a yawn, shaking his head in mock disappointment.

"Pathetic, Longbottom."

Despite Neville's faithful attempts to cast the disarming charm correctly, their lessons progressed as planned, and Harry spent the next couple of days teaching the group a good number of basic defense spells she knew would come in handy, like _Levicorpus, Reducto, Protego, _and _Diffindo. _

Smiling slightly, Harry nodded as she walked over to where Draco and Theodore were practicing their _Levicorpus _spells near the back of the room. As she stopped beside them, however, and watched in mild amusement as Draco continued to point his wand at Colin Creevey's form floating several feet above them, she reached over and adjusted the Slytherin's arm slowly so that he held his wand higher.

"Make sure to hold it steady so that you don't drop him." She told him softly, completely unaware of the fact that Draco no longer seemed to be interested in what he was doing and was now more focused on staring intently at her. As Harry released her hold on his arm and stepped past him to check on Theodore, Draco used her momentary distraction to lean in and take a quick whiff of her hair.

_"YAAAARGH!" _

_**THUD!**_

Blinking in shock, Harriet jerked her attention back to Colin and gaped at the small Gryffindor on the floor. Colin winced and picked himself back up, adjusting his uniform and smiling reassuringly at her.

"I–I'm okay!" He assured her in a high-pitched, nervous squeak.

Still gaping at him, Harry slowly shifted her gaze back to Draco was surprised to see that the Slytherin had retreated from them and was hastily making his way to the other end of the training room.

"Working hard is important." Harriet announced to the group one morning as she walked into the training room. "But there's something that matters more…_believing in yourself._" She told them.

"Think of it this way." Harry paused and looked around, meeting their individual gazes at her with a smile. "Every great wizard in history has started out like we are now…_students._ And if they can do it…Then why not us?" She paused and walked over to help Cho Chang adjust the position of her wand.

"So…Let's get to it!" She finished, giving them all a wink of encouragement.

"Wands at the ready!" Hermione called out to Cedric and Harriet a few days later, watching as the two teens bowed to each other and began to assume a dueling stance at the center of the room.

"Three…Two…One–"

_"STUPEFY!"_ Cedric expertly pointed his wand at Harry with a triumphant grin, watching as the Gryffindor winced and was immediately hurled to the very back of the room. When she grimaced to herself and stood up, she grinned back at him and returned his concerned look with a thumbs-up sign.

"That was _perfect, _Cedric." Harry smiled as she straightened and walked back to where he was. She rolled her eyes when Cedric smiled at her and pulled her close, wrapping his arms around her waist.

"To the victor go the spoils." He teased, leaning down and meeting her lips in a quick, chaste kiss.

"I think I got it, Malfoy!" Neville exclaimed to Draco from the other side of the room, but he failed to notice that his dueling partner was no longer listening to a word he was saying. Instead, the blonde was glaring heatedly at Harriet and Cedric as they continued to kiss each other a few feet away.

Draco's eyes narrowed angrily at the way Harry was looking up at Cedric with a radiant smile.

"_STUPEFY!" _Neville suddenly burst out, pointing his wand at Draco's distracted form.

Gaping at Neville in disbelief, Draco involuntarily let out a high-pitched meep as he was thrown backward rather forcefully until he ended up colliding with the group of students standing behind them, causing them all to tumble clumsily into a heap on the floor. Draco managed to pick himself back up and glared at Neville in indignation but he flushed even more when he realized that the entire room, including Harry, had witnessed the scene and had all burst into a round of hearty cheers and applause.

"Way to go, Neville!"

"That was _wicked, _Longbottom!"

"Nice work, Neville!"

Grumbling miserably to himself, Draco forced himself back onto his feet and watched grumpily as Neville backed away into a corner and blushed at the group of pretty girls huddling all around him.

* * *

"So…That's it for this lesson. You all did a fantastic job today, nice work!" Harriet announced cheerfully that evening – just after they had held their final lesson before the start of Christmas Break. When most of the DA members nodded back at her and responded, either with a similar smile or a praise of encouragement, Harry's expression brightened considerably and she gave them a quick nod.

"Now, we're not going to be meeting again until after the holidays." She laughed lightly when she heard a few groans from some of the younger students. "So…I guess…Just keep practicing on your own as best as you can. Well done, everyone. Great work." Harry smiled again and watched them go.

The group broke out into a quick chorus of applause and cheers after that, causing the black-haired Gryffindor to blush slightly but smile and wave as the rest of the other students began to head out. Ron and Neville grinned as they passed her, and the former of the two clapped her on the back.

"Well done, mate." Ron told her, earning a grateful smile from Harry in return.

"Thanks, Ron…I'll see you guys in the common room tonight?" She asked.

"You bet. Neville and I are just going to head off to the kitchens to get some food. You want anything?" He asked, but when Harry just rolled her eyes at him and waved him away, Ron shrugged.

"Your loss. Come on, Neville." They waved at her again, and when both Gryffindors had left, Harriet looked up and found herself staring back at Cedric's familiar grin. He stopped as soon as he reached her and leaned down, dropping a chaste kiss on her cheek before he whispered into her ear.

"We're still on for dinner right? Do you want me to stay or would you rather we meet in the Great Hall?" He asked, but she gave him a reassuring smile and shook her head, gesturing for him to go.

"No, it's okay…I'll just stay for awhile and finishing cleaning a few things here. You go on ahead and I'll catch up to you." She told him, but when Cedric glanced around the room, he frowned slightly.

"Are you sure you don't want me to stay and help you clean up here?" He asked but Harry just shook her head and rolled her eyes at his concern. She tilted her head slightly to give him a quick peck.

"Don't worry, the room cleans up by itself. I just want to stay and collect all my notes." She explained, waving the Hufflepuff off again until he nodded and gave her one last smile before he left. Sighing to herself in exhaustion, Harry was just to walk back to the front of the room where she had stashed all of her belongings when, to her surprise, she heard the doors to the room creak open again.

Immediately thinking it was Cedric, she rolled her eyes and turned around to laugh at him.

"Did you forget something–" She stopped in the middle of her sentence when she was met with a pair of mercury gray eyes that were definitely _much _too bright to be Cedric's. When she realized who it was, and that she had been staring at him like an idiot for awhile, she blushed and managed a wry smile.

"Malfoy." She greeted, watching uncertainly as Draco stepped into the room and closed the door behind him. "What are you doing back here? I think Marietta is waiting for you in the Great Hall." She told him, but to her surprise, Draco just shook his head and began walking to the back of the room.

He didn't say anything at first, merely pausing just as he reached the mirror that was situated in front of the room and quietly reading the flurry of newspaper articles that were posted on the surface. Mostly, they were about different topics – a variety of columns from the Daily Prophet that talked about how Harriet Potter was a pathological liar, how Barty Crouch Jr. was on the loose and was responsible for all the disappearances, and how the Ministry was diligently increasing the frequency of all their raids.

In the middle of all the articles, Draco spied the one in the very center, the long article that Harriet had pulled from the Quibbler – in which Luna's father had talked about the one big conspiracy of the Ministry _and _the Prophet siding with each other in hiding the truth about the Dark Lord's return. He stared up at it for a long moment until Harriet walked up slowly to stand beside him and follow his gaze.

"How can you stand it, Harry?" He asked her softly, keeping his eyes on the article.

She noticed the grimness of his features but she waited patiently for him to speak again.

"How can you stand _everyone _looking at you and thinking you're a liar? Like you're some kind of freak that was meant to be on observation?" Draco's expression darkened and he finally turned to look at her with a sigh of frustration. "How can you _stomach _having to go about everyday, trying to convince everyone that you're _not _the bloody person the whole world is making you out to be?" He shook his head sharply at his own words and sighed again, turning his face away so she couldn't see his expression.

"I've spent my whole _life _trying to convince everyone that I'm _not _a Death Eater…" His eyes dimmed and he glared at her. "Should I just do what they want and become one?" Draco asked sharply.

"No!" Harry snapped at him, shaking her head furiously. "You don't owe _anything _to _anyone, _Draco…You owe _no one _a goddamn thing!" She reached up and pointed to one of the Death Eater articles written by Rita Skeeter. "You were the one who once told me not to give a _damn _what these people think! It doesn't matter what they want you to be, you decide for yourself!" She raged at him.

"And _how _do I do that?" He drawled back sarcastically, his eyes flashing. "In case you haven't noticed, Harry, our cases are rather different here. Everyone is always willing to forgive _you _for whatever you do simply because _you're _the daughter of the Minister of Magic." He scoffed to himself. "I'm the son of a former Death Eater…Everything I _do _or _say _will always reflect back on that." He sneered.

"Will you _stop _bringing that up, damn it?! You keep reminding me of that, that doesn't matter!" Harry snapped at him with a frustrated sigh but his sneer just hardened and he shook his head fiercely.

"I bring it up all the time because it's the _truth_ and it _does _matter_!_" He pointed out angrily.

"Then it s_houldn't, _Draco!" Harry's eyes flashed defiantly as she glared at him again. "_You _know yourself! And the people that matter to you know who you _really_ are. They're the ones that should matter…Not the Prophet. Not the Ministry…Not anyone else." She explained quietly, still watching him.

At her words, Draco's expression calmed slowly and he met her green eyes intently with his own.

"What about _you_?" He asked softly after a long pause, watching the question flicker in her eyes.

Harry blinked and stared back uncertainly at him, vaguely aware that he had taken a step closer.

"What _about _me?" She whispered back, her breath hitching in her throat when Draco took another step towards her. Biting her lip at the strange look in his eyes, she automatically took a step backward, wincing when her lower back had inadvertently collided with the wooden table behind her.

"What do _you _really think of me, Harry Potter…?" Draco's voice softened into a light whisper as he took another step towards her and reached up, running his fingers gently against the smooth skin of her flushed cheek. Unused to his intimate expression, Harriet's breaths sounded shallow to her own ears.

Subconsciously, she bit her lip again, inadvertently drawing his intense gaze to them.

"I….I _don't _think you're a Death Eater, Draco…" She began nervously, and her heart started pounding loudly when his fingers traced lower, until his thumb began caressing the corner of her lips.

Draco almost chuckled at that, and he began tracing her lips with his thumb as he answered.

"I think we've already established that before…" He teased quietly, and this time, when he took one last step towards her, trapping her between him and the table behind her, she blushed furiously.

"I–I–Draco, I don't know what you're trying to ask–"

"I wanted to know what you _really_ think of me." Draco told her quietly, but when Harry just stared uncertainly at him, afraid of what he wanted her to answer, he smiled grimly. "Because do you know what I really think of _you, _Harry…?" He raised his hand again, but this time, he traced his fingers gently along her scar, pushing her long dark hair out of her face. When she didn't speak, he continued.

"I think you're…a reckless idiot_…_" His hand traveled to her cheek again, caressing lingeringly down her skin until his fingers had coiled themselves gently behind her neck. "…I also think you're foolish and headstrong…" His lips twitched at the indignant look that flashed in her eyes but he went on. "You're also annoyingly naïve and irrational..." His other hand slowly began to wrap itself around her waist, pulling her closer. "…an impulsive, stubborn little girl who thinks she can save the world…._And–_" Draco paused and glanced at her expression again, smiling at the defiant anger evident in her features.

"And?!"

Harriet's eyes were narrowed as she waited for his next insult, glaring at him in challenge.

Draco stared at her, admiring her flushed features until he finally gave her another grim smile.

"–I think you're _beautiful._" He admitted quietly.

She froze in shock at his statement, completely unsure if the Slytherin was serious or not. When she glanced at him again, she half expected that Draco would be smirking at her and pointedly telling her that, of course, he wasn't serious at all. But she was surprised to see him still staring intently at her.

_What is he trying to say…? _

Blushing uncomfortably at the intensity of his gaze, Harriet managed to give him a shaky smile.

"I think maybe that last stunning spell on you may have ogled your brain a bit." She laughed nervously, trying to lighten the mood. "But…thanks. I think you're _'beautiful' _too." She teased weakly.

Draco looked amused at her attempts to divert him, but the intensity of his gaze didn't waver.

"_Do _you now…?" He asked in a slow, deliberately challenging drawl.

She blinked and glanced back at him in confusion.

"What do you mean–_Draco?!_"

Harriet's eyes widened in alarm and she never got to finish the rest of her sentence as the strange heat in Draco's eyes suddenly sparked to life and he reached up, cupping her cheek and trapping her head firmly in place. He leaned in quickly, pressing his lips firmly against hers and muffling the rest of Harriet's sharp protests. His other hand snaked around her waist, pulling her tightly against his frame.

She was shocked at first, completely overwhelmed and unprepared for the way his lips began pressing insistently on her own, but when the hand he had on her cheek moved behind her neck, allowing Draco to pull her closer and deepen the kiss, her eyes fluttered shut and she lost all coherent thought altogether. Trembling nervously, one of her hands had climbed up to grip his arm for support.

Before she realized what she was doing, she began to kiss him back – hesitantly at first, as she wasn't sure if he would respond – but the minute her lips began to move against his, Draco's entire form tensed. A split second later, he began to kiss her more passionately, and the hand he had around her waist tightened, yanking her even closer against him so that she felt the heat emanating from his body.

Somewhere in the back of Harriet's muddled state of mind, she vaguely noticed that he was pushing her backward, but it wasn't until she felt a hard edge pressing against her lower back that she realized that Draco had backed her completely against the table behind them. Trembling at the lightheadedness he was inciting within her, she made a half-hearted attempt to protest, but when she had opened her mouth and Draco had slipped his tongue inside, a soft, raspy moan escaped her lips.

_Stop him, Harry…Stop him now! _Her mind screamed at her, but her body refused to respond.

She had never been kissed this way before, and suddenly, she felt like she was drowning in all of these heated sensations that were rapidly taking control over all senses in her body. Draco was kissing her hard and hungrily now, and his hand had snaked up, entangled in the long dark tresses of her hair.

When his other hand, however, had somehow found its way underneath her school blouse and was slowly beginning to crawl up the bare skin of her back towards the clasp of her bra, Harriet was startled out of her hormonal daze long enough to gasp sharply and pull away in alarm. Struggling for breath, she raised a trembling hand and slapped him hard across his cheek, forcing him to release her.

"How dare you_?!_ What are you doing?!_" _She stammered angrily, her cheeks turning bright red and her shoulders heaving with each shallow breath she took as she glared angrily at his unmoving form.

Draco didn't answer as he stared calmly at her, panting slightly for breath. He barely noticed the painful red bruise that was beginning to form on his cheek from where she had slapped him, however, and his gaze lingered on her flushed features. When she continued to glare furiously at him, and moved sharply away when he had tried to lean in again, he pressed his forehead quietly against hers instead.

_What the hell just happened?!_ Harry screamed inwardly at herself as she cringed away from him again. She raised a hand to her swollen lips, glaring questioningly him with clear accusation in her eyes.

He didn't apologize though.

Instead, he continued to stare calmly at her with that same strange expression in his silver gray eyes. Then, to her frustration, Draco finally turned and left the room without another word, leaving the Gryffindor still trembling and panting heavily for breath as she stared after his retreating back in silence.

* * *

**A/N: **Phew… Now that we've _finally _established that there's some good ol' chemistry between our two main protagonists, let's move on and see how things progress from here shall we? *smirks evilly*

**Next Chapter: **A quick look at Harry's holiday break…More Ministry problems...Along with Umbridge's Inquisitorial Squad, Snape's occlumency lessons, mass break-outs from Azkaban and throw in a few love problems into the mix… Honestly, what's a young teenage girl to do? :D

**SEE YOU NEXT UPDATE EVERYONE! PLEASE DON'T FORGET TO LEAVE A REVIEW! CHEERS! :D**


	15. Of Love and Loyalties

**Harriet Potter and the Minister of Magic **

**Disclaimer:** I don't own Harry Potter or any of the characters you recognize from the HP books in this story. All I own is the plot. Everything else belongs to JK Rowling.

**Pairings**: DM/femHP (eventual). CD/femHP. RW/HG. BZ/GW. JP/LP (past). SS/LP (one-sided).

**Warnings:** Spoilers from canon (Books 4 to 7). Occasional time jumps from chapter to chapter. Mature content later on.

**Notes: ** Argh… Honestly, this chapter took me forever to get through. I started working on it the same week I released chapter 14, but somehow, I couldn't get my creative juices flowing so I had to wait for a month before I was able to force some words out. And to be honest, it didn't turn out as well as I would have hoped…But oh well. I hope you guys like it anyway. So, without further ado, on to the story! :D

* * *

**Chapter 15 – Of Love and Loyalties  
**

_The long, empty hallway seemed to stretch out endlessly before her, and she slithered slowly towards the bright source of light emanating from the other end of the dimly lit area. She heard a loud gasp somewhere in the near distance and with narrowed red eyes; she turned sharply toward the source of the sound and began crawling down the narrow corridor towards it. A flash of bright red hair caught her attention, and instinctively, she let out a sharp, angry hiss and turned towards the running figure. _

_ "N–No…Stay away! Stay back!" _

_ She heard the voice again and turned around, staring with blood red eyes at the man who was cowering before her. He looked vaguely familiar, as though she had seen him once or twice before, she couldn't be sure, but that did nothing to stop another hiss from escaping her as she lunged at him. Hissing loudly, she coiled down and attacked, sinking her fangs into the man's arm until she drew blood._

_ "No! Please…Somebody help me!" He screamed again as he fell weakly to the floor._

_ Another hiss escaped her in response and she lunged at him again, sinking her sharp, poisonous fangs over and over again into whatever flesh she could reach until the man was beginning to pass out._

Harriet awoke with a startled gasp and immediately jerked from her bed in panic. Glancing frantically around the dimly lit room of the girls' dormitory, she struggled for breath and inhaled sharply, desperately trying to calm the rapid pounding of her heart in her chest. When she looked up slowly and noticed that Hermione was still asleep on the bed beside hers, she jumped up and quickly ran to her.

"H–Hermione!" She croaked out as she jostled the other girl awake, her entire form trembling.

When the brown-haired Gryffindor yawned and reluctantly opened her eyes, Hermione noticed the terrified pallor of her friend immediately and she sat up, her features clouding in worried concern.

"Harry? What's wrong? You're shaking all over." Hermione frowned as she reached out and tried to feel the black-haired girl's forehead but Harriet just shook her heard and swatted her hand away.

"Hermione, I–I saw…I _saw–_" Her voice broke as she fought to catch her breath again, but she forced herself to continue. "I saw…I was _there…_I saw Mr. Weasley…R–Ron's Dad… Th–the snake…I–"

She began to tremble again but Hermione's eyes flashed and she glanced at her sharply. "Harry, calm down! I don't understand a word you're saying!" She clamped her hand down hard on Harry's shoulders and forced the other Gryffindor to still. "What did you see?! Where's Mr. Weasley?! Tell me!"

The dark-haired Gryffindor managed to collect herself slowly. When she stared nervously at Hermione, her voice had fallen to a barely audible whisper as she answered. "Hermione… I saw _Mr. Weasley… _He was somewhere in the Ministry, I think…The corridor looked familiar…He was–" She swallowed the lump in her throat and bit her lip, giving Hermione a terrified gaze. "–he was being attacked by a snake… I saw it…happening…As though I was there… As though I was _right _there…" Harry let her voice trail off slowly at this, and she looked away so that Hermione couldn't see her expression.

_As though I was right there…as the snake…_Harry finished to herself, her face paling again as she felt another tremor of fear running down her spine. When Hermione just stared silently at her, her brown eyes beginning to widen with horror, Harry shook her head frantically and jostled the other girl.

"Hermione, did you hear what I said?! I saw Mr. Weasley being attacked by a snake! Somewhere in the Ministry of Magic! We have to tell Dumbledore, we have to go _now!_" She shouted furiously, ignoring the adamant protests from Lavender and Parvati when they jerked awake at Harriet's voice.

"B–but Harry…" Hermione protested weakly. "I don't understand…How could you _know _that–"

Harry was already climbing out of the bed and hurriedly yanking a robe over her pajamas.

"I don't have time to explain, Hermione….We have to go to Dumbledore now!"

As it turns out, Harriet's nightmare, and the fact that she and Hermione had raced to Dumbledore's office that night to inform the Headmaster of what Harry had seen, turned out to be the one crucial factor that had saved Arthur Weasley's life. After Harry had informed him of what happened, Dumbledore had sent word to Sirius and Remus immediately. Both men found Arthur Weasley lying on the floor of the Department of Mysteries that same night. He wasn't only unconscious, but Arthur Weasley was covered with snake bites, something that had made Harriet pale and sick to the stomach.

And that hadn't even been the strangest of what happened that night.

When Harriet and Hermione had rushed to Dumbledore's office to inform him of what Harry had seen, they had found Severus Snape and Lucius Malfoy in his office, and all three men had looked as if they were in the middle of a serious discussion. As soon as Snape had seen the two Gryffindors there, however, he immediately sneered and called Dumbledore's attention immediately, bringing their conversation to a halt. When Harriet had rushed in and informed Dumbledore what she told Hermione, the Headmaster didn't even hesitate to act. Almost instantly, he sent both Snape and Lucius Malfoy away to contact the authorities while he began flitting around the room, owling both Sirius and Remus.

Not once, during the entire time they had spoken, did Dumbledore glance at Harriet or meet the dark-haired Gryffindor's eyes. When the Headmaster began speaking directly to Hermione instead, something inside Harriet had snapped. Her eyes flashed and she felt a strong and sudden inexplicable urge to _kill_ Dumbledore when suddenly, the feeling just _vanished_ – as quickly as it had appeared. When he continued to avoid her eyes, however, Harriet finally snapped and screamed for him to look at her.

That had caught his attention immediately, and Dumbledore finally looked up, locking his startled blue eyes with Harry's wide green orbs in shock. She was staring maniacally at him, her features creased and her shoulders trembling with sobs, and she asked him what the hell was happening to her.

He didn't answer.

What he _did _say though, was that the unexplainable link that Harriet had with the Dark Lord because of her scar was becoming more and more dangerous, and that she would need to be able to defend herself. After that, Dumbledore turned away from her again and called Snape back into the room.

"Severus." Dumbledore looked about twice his age as he turned away from the two Gryffindor girls staring at him and met Severus Snape's grim stare at him from across the room. "You remember what we talked about last week?" He sighed, and Harriet saw the two men exchange a meaningful look.

Snape stared back quietly at him, but when Dumbledore didn't say anything else, he spoke again.

"Are you sure about this, Headmaster?" He asked, glancing at Harriet from the corner of his eye.

Dumbledore nodded slowly before he turned back to stare out of the window behind his desk.

"Yes, Severus…I'm afraid it's time." He whispered softly.

The two men exchanged another meaningful nod after that, but neither of them spoke again until Harriet and Hermione had left the room for that evening. Unfortunately, Harry didn't get the chance to speak to Dumbledore again after that, so when Snape approached her a couple of days after, asking her to meet him in his office for her first Occlumency lesson, she had no idea what it was about.

"Potter, it would appear that there is a connection between the Dark Lord's mind and your own. Perhaps it was a connection that was established on the night he gave you that scar on your forehead." Snape ignored the horrified look on her face and continued in a calm voice. "Now…Whether he is aware of this connection or not is, for the moment, unclear." Snape paused and gave her a strange expression.

"Pray that he remains ignorant." He finished quietly, turning around and stalking to the other side of his office. "Now…Miss Potter, we shall commence your Occlumency lessons immediately and–"

"You mean…He'll try to read my mind?" Harry interrupted him sharply, her face turning pale. "Is that what you're saying? That Voldemort will find out about our 'connection' and use it?" She whispered.

Snape had flinched at her mention of the Dark Lord's name but he nodded slowly at her words. "Use it…Unhinge it." He shook his head and gave her another mocking sneer. "In the past, it was often the Dark Lord's pleasure to invade the minds of his victims… Creating visions that were designed to torture them into madness." His mocking sneer grew when he saw the horrified look on Harriet's face.

"Only after extracting the last exquisite ounce of agony… Only when he had them literally begging for death would he finally…_kill them._" Snape finished slowly, his eyes focused intently on her trembling frame. "Used properly, the power of Occlumency will be able to shield you from this kind of access or influence. This is what I must teach you, Potter. We have no time to waste." He strode across the room towards her and took his wand out of his robes, pointing it directly at the petite Gryffindor.

"Potter, in these lessons, I will attempt to penetrate your mind…You will attempt to resist." Snape ignored the look of panic that crossed Harriet's face and raised his wand. "Prepare yourself!"

Her eyes widened and she raised both her hands up in protest. "P–Professor, _wait! _I can't_–"_

"Legilimens!"

* * *

Tonks and Remus were already waiting at the train station when Harriet arrived that evening, and both adults greeted the young Gryffindor with their usual smiles and warm hugs. When Harry glanced around, however, and promptly asked them where her Dad was, Remus gave her a tight smile and explained that both he and Sirius would be joining them later on that evening for Christmas dinner.

Unable to say anything else, Harriet just nodded quietly at this and followed them as they took Remus' muggle car and drove back to Grimmauld Place. As soon as they had arrived and Harriet finished settling her things in the guest room, she hopped down the stairs and glanced around the cozy house.

_At least I get to spend my Christmas here than at home. _She thought to herself with a weak smile as she plopped down onto the sofa in front of the fireplace and stared in thought at the tall flames.

Ever since she could remember, Harriet had always loved staying over at Grimmauld Place whenever she could. She had spent most of her summer and Christmas holidays as a kid staying with Sirius there, especially during the times when both her Dad and her Grandfather were out of the country.

Now, staying here only reminded her of how long it's been since she last saw her father.

In fact, the idea of actually being able to see her father was the only reason that Harriet had even agreed to go to Grimmauld Place for the Holidays. After what had happened to Ron's father a few days ago, she had wanted nothing more than to stay in school and muse about all that's happened.

It wasn't just about her Occlumency lessons with Snape or what had happened to Mr. Weasley in the Department of Mysteries either. Something entirely different had been bothering the Gryffindor for the past few days, and quite frankly, she still had no idea how she was supposed to react about it.

A couple of nights ago…her childhood archrival had _kissed _her.

Harriet's eyes widened as the memory of Draco kissing her in the room of requirement that evening flooded her mind. She blushed, remembering how the Slytherin had pressed his lips against hers and how his arms had trapped smaller frame firmly against him, keeping her from pulling away. More than she'd care to admit, she also remembered how the inexplicable heat that radiated from his body had warmed her all over, and just the very memory of it now still sent a shiver down her spine.

Though Harriet wasn't sure she understood everything that happened, she _did _know that she had betrayed Cedric – she had, unwittingly, _kissed _Draco back. In fact, looking back at the memory now, she realized that she had betrayed Cedric every single time her body had responded to Draco's advances.

She felt _horrible. _

_I didn't mean to! I just didn't know to react to something like that! _Harry raged inwardly at herself, scowling angrily at the tapestry near the far corner of the room. _H–He…He took advantage of me! It wasn't my fault, I didn't know what was happening! _She tried to reason with herself, but the more she heard the words echoing in her mind, the more Harriet realized just how at fault she really was.

The truth was, she had _never _been kissed that way before, and despite having been together for more than one year, she and Cedric had yet to venture into that kind of intimacy with each other. In fact, the only times that the pair of them had even come _close _to being that intimate were the rare times that they had met in a few private classrooms earlier that year. It had never escalated any further than kissing, however, and Cedric had always been respectful enough to stop whenever things got too heated.

_Unlike…Malfoy. _Harry thought to herself, feeling her cheeks flame up again in embarrassment.

Not surprisingly, the Slytherin was unrepentantly forward with her – he had walked right up to her and, without any reservation whatsoever, _kissed _her like it was the most natural thing in the world. Unfortunately, the fact that she had just inadvertently made out with her childhood archrival – combined with her apparent inexperience with her own boyfriend, wasn't making her feel better at all.

_Not to mention how Cedric doesn't even have a clue about what happened. _She added guiltily.

Unfortunately, Draco continued to confuse her even after the incident. The few times that she had seen him in the Great Hall before they had left for Christmas Break, he was acting surprisingly normal. In fact, if Harry didn't know any better, she could have sworn that the Slytherin was behaving as though nothing had even happened at all. In class, he continued to smirk at her and mock her the way he always did, and it frustrated her to no end because she didn't know how to act around him anymore.

Thus, Harry did the only thing she knew she _could _do – she avoided him like the plague.

She thought she caught him glancing at her a few times when they had passed each other on the train ride back to King's Cross Station. He had been with Marietta at the time, but when Harry had glanced up at him in question, Draco had quickly looked away. They hadn't seen or spoken to each other at all since then, and truth be told, Harriet was more than relieved for the reprieve during the holidays.

_"There _you are, sweetie! What are you doing over here?!"

Harriet blinked in surprise and glanced up, forcing a smile when she caught sight of Tonks' admonishing glare at her just as the pink-haired Hufflepuff was entering the room. She shook her head at Harry's dazed expression and walked over to her, grabbing the younger girl insistently by the arm.

"Give me a hand with dinner! I need someone to watch over the roast for me." Tonks quipped cheerfully, and ignoring Harriet's protests, she dragged her out of the room towards the kitchen. Seated in front of the fireplace in the living room, Remus glanced up at them from his newspaper and watched as the pair crossed the room. He shook his head, an amused smile tugging at the corner of his mouth.

When Tonks had finally released Harry and positioned her right in front of the large oven at the corner of the kitchen, she chuckled and met the Gryffindor's questioning look with a bemused smile. "Really sorry for bothering you like this, Harry, but you know how absolutely clueless Remus is in the kitchen. If I asked _him _to help me, we'd probably end up eating a burnt dinner for Christmas." She kidded, earning a reluctant laugh from Harriet as she nodded and knelt down to peer into the oven.

"Pot roast looks good." She mused, before straightening back up and smiling at Tonks. "It's a good thing you know how to cook then, 'Dora…Otherwise, how would you two have survived being married?" She joked, but to her amusement, Tonks just snorted at this and shook her head at her words.

"I _didn't _know how to cook before I married Remus…" She explained, chuckling as she pointed her wand at a bowl of freshly cut vegetables and potatoes and levitated them over to the stove. "In fact, the only reason I learned was because we got married." She told her, causing the younger girl to glance at her in surprise. "I know, right? I had _no _domestic skills. I only learned them now." She added, giggling.

Harriet blinked at her in mild disbelief. "So you only learned…for Remus?" She asked.

Tonks finally closed the lid over the pot of vegetables she was steaming over the stove and turned around, smiling at her. "Really." She grinned, wiping her hands on her apron. "To be honest, I only just learned a _lot _of things after I got married. Marriage…can really change a person." She mused.

"I…see." Harry fell silent at that, and for a few minutes, she frowned quietly at the ground by her feet, her eyebrows fused together in thought. When she glanced up at Tonks again, she watched as the older woman began decorating a large chocolate cake in front of her with different colored icing.

"'Dora…?"

Hearing the confusion in Harriet's voice, Tonks glanced up and offered her a warm smile.

"Yes, sweetie?"

Harriet frowned slightly as she glanced at her, inadvertently comparing her father's marriage to her mother, and his later relationship with Hadriana. "When did you realize that Remus was…you know…" In spite of herself, she blushed when Tonks just raised an eyebrow at her. Rolling her eyes at her own embarrassment, Harry sighed and shook her head before she clarified herself. "When did you realize that Remus was the…_one _you wanted to spend your life with? I mean, that he was the one—"

She was beginning to trip all over her words again, but to her relief, Tonks seemed to understand what she meant. Laughing softly, she smirked at Harriet's awkwardness and winked at her.

"When did I know that Remus was the one I wanted to spend the rest of my life with, you mean?" She asked her slowly, and when Harry smiled sheepishly at her and nodded, she chuckled again. "Well, that's certainly a question I don't think you should _ever _bring up with both your father and your godfather, little Prongs. I doubt they'd ever let you out of the house ever again." She teased, but when Harriet just glared at her, she laughed again and raised both of her hands up in a gesture of self-defense.

"Alright, alright! You don't have to be so serious, Harry! I was just teasing!" Tonks chuckled, and when she finished washing her hands, she turned around fully to face Harry and slid off her apron. "To be honest, Harry…I can't say I _realized _it just like that…So I can't give you the exact date that I knew." She frowned to herself in thought as she propped herself up onto the kitchen counter beside Harry.

"So…you didn't know?" Harry asked her again, looking even more confused.

Tonks' lips twitched at that and she shook her head, giving the younger girl a quirky smile. "Well, I wouldn't say _that _either, love… Looking back at things now…I guess I think…I _always _knew… I just didn't realize it at the time." She laughed at herself and shook her head, glancing back over at Harry's utterly bewildered expression. "That sounds strange when I think about it. Does that even make any sense?"

"No." Harriet's scowl deepened and shook her head at her in annoyance.

"Ah well…" Tonks' grin widened and she shrugged, shoving her hands into her pockets. "I guess, love can be like that, sweetie. There's really no definite way to figure out when it happened, it just…happens. Right when you least expect it." She told her, and without realizing it, her eyes softened as she smiled at the dark-haired Gryffindor. Harriet blinked at her again, mildly surprised at her answer.

"How so…?" She asked, genuinely curious.

"Well—" Tonks thought to herself for a few seconds before she answered. "—in my case, I knew it when I realized that Remus was the only one I knew who understood me so effortlessly. More than I understood myself at times." She smiled wryly, shaking her head. "And compared to my past boyfriends, everything just…_fit _with him. That's how I knew he was the one." Tonks smiled ruefully at Harriet again.

"Do you understand what I mean?" She asked.

Wincing, Harriet just shook her head at her, causing the older woman to laugh again.

"I guess…the best way to describe it is…" Tonks bit her lip and thought carefully to herself. "Things just…_felt _right with him. _Everything _just felt right with him." She chuckled to herself, looking bemused. "In fact, things felt so right with him that even _fighting _with him felt right…It was _fun, _even."

Hearing this, Harriet's eyes widened slightly and she couldn't help laughing in surprise.

"Fighting with him was…_fun_?" She asked incredulously.

"Very fun." Tonks corrected her, giving her a mischievous grin. "You have no idea how much that git drives me crazy. He can make me feel so ridiculously happy sometimes that I feel like I'm top of the world…But then, the next minute, he's making me furious enough to want to wring his neck!" She rolled her eyes and shook her head. "With a _single _word, he can make me feel like the most beautiful woman alive…Or piss me off." Tonks told her, causing Harriet to laugh at the bluntness of her voice.

"It's unnerving...He drives me absolutely _crazy…_But that's how I knew." Tonks grinned.

"So let me get this straight. You knew Remus was the one…Because he drove you crazy?" Harry asked incredulously, and the obvious disbelief in her voice sent both of them into another fit of laughter.

"It sounds funny if you think about it, but it's true." Tonks' eyes softened as she glanced quietly across the kitchen counter towards the living room. Following her gaze, Harry watched as Remus looked up from where he was still seated in front of the fireplace and met Tonks' smile with one of his own.

When Remus finally glanced away from them turned back to his newspaper, Tonks met Harry's gaze again, the two women exchanging a small smile. "No other guy could quite drive me up the wall the way Remus could…My emotions were always so volatile when it came to him…And him alone. So I knew he was the one." Tonks sighed to herself, as though she were calling to mind a very particular memory.

"That has got to be the sweetest, cutest…_weirdest _thing I have ever heard." Harry mused out loud, shaking her head in disbelief when Tonks just laughed at her words and offered her a cheerful wink.

"Oh, don't even get me started on how _your _parents used to drive each other crazy, kiddo. _That'll _have your knickers in a twist about how those two ever ended up getting married. I certainly never would have bet on them, believe me." Tonks pointed out, earning a genuine smile from Harry.

"Why did you even ask such a question anyway, Harry? Don't tell me you're already getting serious with Cedric Diggory? I mean, he's cute and all, I'll give you that… But he's your first boyfriend—"

"I just…I'm not sure yet." Harriet interrupted her hastily, her cheeks flushing in embarrassment.

Tonks raised an eyebrow at her but she waited patiently until Harry explained further.

"I—I mean…I don't think I'm sure yet…if that's how I feel about Cedric." She admitted quietly, careful not to meet Tonks' intent gaze as she hung her head and wrung her fingers nervously together.

When a long moment of silence passed between them, Tonks surprised Harry when the older woman gave her a gentle smile and rolled her eyes. She shook her head at the younger girl's uneasiness. "Ah, you're young, sweetheart…You don't have to worry about any of that yet." She admonished lightly.

Somewhat relieved at the gentleness of Tonk's voice, Harry looked up slowly and met her gaze.

"If Cedric is the one, then great. But if not…Well, let's just say you don't have to beat yourself up over it." Tonks told her, leaning over and dropping a comforting kiss onto the top of Harry's head. "You have all the time in the world to find the guy that will drive you absolutely _crazy,_ sweetheart. There's absolutely no rush." She ruffled Harry's hair affectionately before she hopped off the kitchen counter.

Harry fell silent at that, trying to recall exactly how her own parents had even fallen in love in the first place. She was just about to ask Tonks exactly that when, to her surprise, the wooden doors to the kitchen suddenly swung open and Sirius walked briskly into the room with a grim look on his face.

The Head Auror tried to force a smile when Harriet had glanced questioningly at him, but when he noticed the way her gaze kept flicking over his shoulder to glance behind him, he sighed in defeat and shook his head at the question he saw in her eyes. When she stiffened and began to look away, Sirius hesitated before he reluctantly walked over to her and handed her the small envelope in his pocket.

"He's not coming…But he told me to give you this—"

Sirius broke off when Harriet snatched the letter from him and tore it open, reading through James' familiar scrawl. When she didn't say anything after that, Sirius and Tonks met each other's gaze for a split second before the former slowly handed her a glass box encasing a beautiful golden necklace.

"He also wanted me to give you this. It's his Christmas present for you—"

"Sirius…I don't want it_._" Harriet whispered, and without waiting for Sirius to respond, she took the box from his hand and wordlessly hurled it across the room, watching with a stone-faced expression as the box shattered against the wall and the gold necklace slid onto the floor. Tonks gasped softly, recoiling from the shards of glass that sprayed out while Sirius just sighed and hung his head in dismay.

"Harry, listen—"

"I'll be upstairs."

Harry didn't bother waiting for them to answer before she jumped off the kitchen counter and strode briskly out of the room. She saw Remus' concerned expression when she passed him but she ignored him and bounded up the stairs, leaving all three adults staring after her in stunned silence.

* * *

"Couldn't sleep?"

Startled at the voice that had spoken, Harriet looked up slowly from the large, family tree painted out on the large wall in front of her and turned around, staring quietly at Sirius' amused grin. The Head Auror was leaning against the door frame as he watched her, shifting his gaze to the large family tree in front of Harry. Wincing, he walked over to her and stood beside her, staring up at the wall.

"This is the Black family tree. Though I gather you'd have figured that out by now." Sirius ignored Harry's stony silence and reached out, pointing to a particular name engraved in front of them.

_Bellatrix Lestrange. _Harriet read the name quietly, her eyes narrowing in recognition.

"My deranged cousin…You probably already heard her name before." Sirius sighed, tracing all of the familiar names adjacent to his own. "I hated the lot of them…My parents with their pureblood mania…" He paused and finally gestured to the black smudged spot near the corner of the tree where his name would have been. "My mother did that after I left home…Charming woman." He added wryly.

Reluctantly, Harry lifted her gaze and stared at her Godfather from the corner of her eye.

"I was sixteen when I ran away." Sirius whispered, his eyes growing dark at the memory.

"…Where did you go?" Harry finally asked him, her voice barely above a raspy whisper but Sirius seemed to hear her perfectly. He chuckled softly to himself and met her curious gaze with a small smile.

"Round your Dad's." He told her, his gray eyes lighting up as he spoke. "I was always welcome at the Potters, you know. Your father never turned me away. We were always the best of friends." He shook his head at his own nostalgic musings and chanced another glance at her. "…And we still are."

Harriet fell silent again, inwardly debating with herself whether or not to tell him anything else. Finally, she sighed and looked up, meeting her godfather's gaze and speaking to him in a soft whisper.

"I just have this…_weird _feeling, Sirius…I…I don't know…I'm confused." She frowned, wrapping her arms tighter around herself as she thought back on the strange and brisk note her father had written her. "I haven't _seen _nor spoken to Dad in _months…_I…I don't know whether I should be _angry _with him_… _Or concerned… Or scared." She withdrew her gaze and stared at the Black family tree in front of them.

"I don't know what's going on anymore." She admitted softly, sighing and looking away.

"I don't know what's going on either. I haven't been able to speak properly to him in months." Sirius hesitated for a few seconds, before he reached out and wrapped an arm around her shoulders. "But I trust your father, Harry. I've known James since we were eleven. So I _know _that he isn't acting like himself. So whatever's going on…I'll get to the bottom of it. I promise." He told her with a grim smile.

Harriet stiffened; but she turned her face away so he couldn't see the fear in her eyes.

"I know you will, Sirius." She whispered, leaning her head sideways against his shoulder.

For a long, agonizing moment of silence, neither of the two Gryffindors spoke a word, and it was only after Sirius had turned back to the family tree in front of them when he began to speak to her again.

"I see so much of him in you, you know." He glanced at her, noting the way Harriet had tensed again and was now glaring angrily at the floor. "You two are so much alike…Uncannily so, if I may add." He teased her, but Harry just scoffed quietly at his words and looked away, refusing to meet his gaze.

"I'm not so sure." She muttered darkly, thinking back on what happened a few weeks ago when she had apparently dreamt of being inside the snake that almost strangled Arthur Weasley to death. She fell silent for a few seconds, unsure of whether she should tell Sirius or not about what happened, but when she saw the look of genuine concern on his face, she made her decision and looked up at him.

"Sirius…when I was…" Harriet paled, and she took a few deep breaths to calm the nervous pounding of her heart. "When I saw Mr. Weasley attacked that night…I wasn't just watching." She lifted her gaze and met his questioning gray eyes. "I….I was the snake." She whispered, her voice trembling.

Sirius' eyebrows came together at her words, and he blinked at her in confusion.

"I don't think I understand, Harry—"

"A—afterwards…In Dumbledore's office… There was a moment I…When I wanted to…" Harriet bit her lip and forced herself to stop when she felt a dry lump well up in her throat. "This… _connection_ between me and Voldemort...Sirius, what if the reason for it is that I'm becoming more like him?" She noticed the way Sirius' eyes had dawned in understanding but she shook her head at him and spoke on.

"I'm just so angry all the time! Sirius, what if… After _everything _I've been through… Something goes wrong and I become like him? And what if I'm becoming bad—" Her voice broke off in a stammer.

"Harry." Sirius cut off the rest of her words when he bent down slightly and placed both of his hands on her shoulders, keeping them from trembling. When she glanced up shakily at him, her green eyes glistening with unshed tears, he sighed and shook his head, dropping a feather light kiss on her hair.

"You're _not _a bad person, love…You're a very _good _person…who bad things have happened _to. _Do you see the difference there, Harry?" He asked her carefully, waiting patiently until Harry nodded slowly in understanding before he continued. "Besides…Contrary to what everyone may think right now… The world isn't split into good people and Death Eaters. We've all got light _and _dark inside of us." He told her gently, reaching over and wiping the stray tear that had managed to roll down her cheek.

"What matters is the part we choose to act on, Harry…That's who we really are." He knelt down and pulled the younger Gryffindor into a tight hug. "You have nothing to be afraid of, little Prongs…I promise. We won't let anything happen to you." He told her gently, dropping another kiss onto her head.

Harry managed a weak smile at that, and when Sirius pulled away, she leaned her head against his shoulder again and the both of them stared quietly at the Black Family Tree that stood before them.

"…Merry Christmas, Padfoot."

He smiled at her, reaching over and affectionately ruffling her hair.

"Merry Christmas, little Prongs."

* * *

_They were in an empty, abandoned classroom that evening. _

_She was kissing Cedric, and her heart was pounding rapidly in her chest when the older teen wrapped an arm around her waist and pulled her closer, his lips pressing insistently against hers. When she reached up and hesitantly wrapped her arms around his neck, she felt him smiling against their intertwined lips. He stroked her cheek, breaking their kiss so he could give her an affectionate nuzzle._

"_You're beautiful." He whispered teasingly into her ear._

_She smiled uncertainly at that, dropping her eyes coyly to the floor just as Cedric leaned down and trailed his lips lingeringly along the skin of her neck. When the arm wrapped around her waist suddenly tightened, however, and she felt herself being pushed backward against a sharp-edged table behind her, she stifled a soft gasp and glanced up, suddenly mesmerized by a pair of mercury gray eyes. _

_ The surroundings around her suddenly began to swirl, and soon she was kissing Draco, and one of his hands was entangled in her hair while the other was wrapped around her waist, pressing her tightly against him. His tongue quickly slipped into her mouth and she moaned softly, unaware of the way her hand had gone up, clutching his upper arm tightly in a desperate effort to keep herself upright._

"How…_interesting._"

Harriet gasped as her eyes snapped open and she collapsed weakly against the backrest of her chair, panting and blushing furiously at Snape's decidedly bored expression across the dimly lit office.

"That's private!" She growled furiously at him, gritting her teeth as she forced herself to straighten up from her seat. Still trembling with exhaustion, she reached into her pocket for her handkerchief and wiped off the beads of sweat that had formed on her brow and the back of her neck.

"Not to me, apparently." Snape drawled back mockingly.

"That was invasive and unnecessary!" She snapped, her cheeks still red with embarrassment.

When she noticed that Snape had just arched an eyebrow at her in boredom, Harriet felt her cheeks flame up in anger. "You had absolutely _no _business going through my memories like that—"

Snape scoffed derisively, and if anything, his expression hardened even more at her words. "There _are _no private memories to me _or _to the Dark Lord if you do not learn how to _discipline _your mind, Potter! _Every _memory he has access is a weapon he can use _against _you!" His eyes narrowed when he saw the way Harry was still trembling from exhaustion. "You wouldn't last _two _seconds if he invades your mind, would you?" He mocked cruelly, shaking his head at her with exaggerated disgust.

"You're _just _like your father." Snape's mouth twisted into a malevolent smile. "Lazy. _Arrogant._"

"Don't say a word against my father!" Harriet retorted, her eyes flashing dangerously.

"Weak."

"I am _not _weak!"

"Then _prove _it!" Snape's expression hardened again and he glared at her. "Control your emotions! _Discipline _your mind, Potter!" He pointed his wand at her again, causing her eyes to widen.

"No, _wait! _Stop–"

"Legilimens!"

_Harriet yawned and leaned her head against her father's shoulder, the both of them looking up quietly at the dark night sky. They were lying down in the middle of the Quidditch camp site that night – the night of her birthday just before fifth year had started. A few feet away, a drunken Sirius had already fallen asleep on the grass and was snoring loudly, causing James and Harry to laugh softly to themselves._

"_I…I don't want to go to sleep yet, Dad." Harry whispered to him, but even as she said the words, her eyelids were beginning to feel heavy and began to close against her will. "If I fall asleep… Then the night is over…" She murmured sleepily, trying to shake her grogginess away. Beside her, she heard her father chuckling quietly at this, and the older Gryffindor had leaned down and kissed the top of her head. _

"_Go to sleep, love…You'll officially be fifteen years old in the morning." He teased gently._

_Harriet managed a small smile at that and closed her eyes, already feeling herself drifting away. _

"_Will you promise not to leave for work and still be here with me in the morning…?" _

_James' expression sobered and his smile was gentle as he rested his cheek against her hair. _

"_I promise, Prongslet."_

"I think I may just vomit."

Harriet gasped sharply as Snape ended the spell and extracted himself from her memories again, leaving the dark-haired Gryffindor trembling violently as she leaned back against her seat. She clenched her hands until she could feel her nails digging into her palms and looked up at Snape's mocking sneer.

"Stop it!" She seethed, shaking with fury.

"Is this what you call control?" Snape mocked again, glaring blankly at her.

"We've been at it for hours, if I could just _rest!_" She snapped back at him, and without waiting for him to respond, she made to rise from her seat. Before she could stand, however, Snape surprised her when he suddenly swooped down and placed his hands on her shoulders, forcing her back down.

"Wh–what–" Harry sputtered as he forced her back into her seat and glared down at her form.

"The Dark Lord _isn't _resting, Potter!" Snape hissed at her with a poisonous snarl. "I see now…You, your father, and Black…You're all the same." He scoffed at her confused expression. "Sentimental children! Whining about how unfair your lives are. Well, Potter…In case you haven't noticed…Life _isn't _fair. Your precious father knows that. In fact, James frequently _saw _to it!" He spat out.

"I said don't say a word against my father! He's _twice _the man you'll ever be!" She raged at him.

Snape's eyes narrowed and he sneered at her, shaking her head at her words. "Interesting, Potter. I find it incredibly amusing how much you defend him, despite the fact that the entire Wizarding World knows how much of a bad parent he is. Your loyalty to that man is almost _foolish—_" He drawled.

"He's my _father!_" Harriet interrupted him through gritted teeth, and without waiting for him to respond, she stood up from her seat again. "And I don't care what you say, Professor, I will not sit here and let you insult him like that in front of me!" She shoved past him, stalking angrily towards the door.

"Don't you _dare _you walk out on me, Potter! _Sit _down—"

Harry stiffened, and she didn't bother turning around as she stormed out of his office and slammed the doors shut, silencing the rest of Snape's angry outburst. As soon as she had stepped out into the narrow corridor outside, she cursed under her breath and headed towards Gryffindor tower.

* * *

"Look, Harry…Hagrid's back!"

At the urgency of Hermione's voice, Harriet and Cedric both glanced up from where the couple were studying together in a quiet corner of the Great Hall that morning and followed Hermione's gaze. When Hagrid saw them waving at him where he sat near the Head tables, he smiled and waved back.

"Oh, that's right. He wasn't here at the start of the year. I wonder where he was." Cedric mused out loud as he watched their exchange, but neither of the two girls answered as they shared a look. Harry glanced at Hagrid, noting the way the half-giant looked particularly more disheveled than usual.

Frowning, she was just about to point this out to Hermione when, to both girls' surprise, Neville had suddenly walked into the Hall and headed towards them with a copy of the Prophet in his hand.

"Harry. Hermione. I think there's something you have to see." Neville's voice sounded grim, and there was a dark, foreboding expression on his face. Hesitantly, he stopped directly in front of Harry's seated form and spread out the cover page of the Daily Prophet in front of her, waiting for her reaction.

"I just read this morning's paper…Look." He winced to himself, shaking his head.

"Merlin." Hermione whispered as she and Cedric leaned over Harry's shoulder from opposite sides and stared at the gruesome image of Bellatrix Lestrange splashed on the cover of the Daily Prophet.

"Ten high security prisoners—" Cedric read the words of the article slowly, unaware of the way Harriet had stiffened beside him. "—in the early hours of yesterday morning, escaped from Azkaban. Immediately following this, the Muggle Prime Minister has been alerted to the danger." He paused, lifting his eyes from the article in front of them and meeting Neville's nervous gaze with a dark look.

"We strongly suspect that the breakout was engineered by the notorious convict and Death Eater, Barty Crouch Junior." Cedric winced to himself and glanced at Harry from the corner of his eye. "Wow, they're really trying to pin everything on Crouch, aren't they? How in Merlin's name could he help _ten _Death Eaters escape Azkaban?! Escaping from there is almost impossible!" He exclaimed angrily.

"At this point, they're just using Crouch as a cover up." Harry's voice lowered into a soft, chilling whisper as she lifted her gaze from the newspaper and met Cedric's worried frown. "I doubt Crouch had anything to do with it at all. Those Death Eaters couldn't have escaped without someone helping from the inside." She said softly, and at her words, Hermione paled and regarded her with a nervous glance.

"Harry…Are you saying that it's possible someone from the Ministry…_helped _those Death Eaters escape?" She whispered quietly, causing both Neville and Cedric to glance back at Harry in disbelief.

"I didn't say it was _possible_." Harry swallowed the dry lump in her throat and dropped her gaze down to the newspaper again, avoiding their eyes. "I'm saying…Someone _did _help those people escape."

Cedric stiffened beside her and he frowned, shaking his head in disbelief at her words.

"Harry…Our fathers work for the Ministry. You can't possibly believe that." He implored quietly.

"Yeah, well one week ago, my father also declared Dolores Um-bitch as High Inquisitor of Hogwarts. I honestly don't know _what _to believe anymore, Cedric." Harry muttered angrily in response.

Cedric fell silent at that, dropping his gaze quietly back to the table.

At his reaction, Harry's expression only darkened, and for a long, tense moment, she didn't say anything else as she stared at the picture of the wild-haired, unkempt woman on the cover of the Daily Prophet. From her appearance alone, Harriet could tell at first glance that Bellatrix Lestrange was crazy – but it wasn't just her haphazard clothing and eerie smile that bothered Harry. It was the fact that, despite being known to have murdered at _least _a dozen innocent families, Bellatrix Lestrange looked unnervingly too _happy, _especially for someone who spent the last fifteen years of her life in Azkaban.

Shuddering to herself, Harriet drew her gaze away from Bellatrix's maniacally laughing face and slowly looked up, meeting Cedric's questioning gray eyes. The Head Boy looked concerned at her distracted expression, but before Harriet could address him, however, a loud, shrill sound suddenly drew their attention to the other end of the Hallway, causing all three teenagers to look up in alarm.

Marietta Edgecombe's angry shrieks reverberated all the way across the hall, but even as the students from the rest of the other houses looked up to stare at them, she continued to bombard Draco Malfoy with an interesting flurry of screams and insults. The couple had situated themselves at the very end of the Slytherin table by the back corner of the hall, and from the looks of things, they were in the middle of a very heated fight. Draco looked as though he was doing his best to hiss his arguments under his breath so as to avoid the rest of the school hearing but as it would seem, his enraged girlfriend would have _none _of this – Marietta was deliberately screaming her accusations out as loud as she could.

At some point during their argument, when it looked as though Draco had finally had enough of Marietta's angry shrieks at him, the Slytherin stood up sharply from his seat and, without another word, strode rudely out of the room. The Ravenclaws, particularly those close girl friends of Marietta, gasped indignantly at the gesture, while the Slytherins just rolled their eyes and went back to their breakfast.

"Harry?"

Forcing her attention away from Marietta's crying form across the Hall, Harriet blinked herself out of her thoughts and quickly lifted her eyes, meeting Cedric's expectant look with a distracted smile.

"I'm sorry, Ced…What was that?" She asked, oblivious to her boyfriend's irritated expression.

Cedric sighed, using a hand to gently tilt her chin up so that their eyes met. When she looked confused at this, he reached up again and used his free hand to give her cheek an affectionate caress.

"Listen, Har… I know you're still worried about your father…I understand that. But…I don't want you to focus on this right now, okay?" Ignoring Neville and Hermione's half-hearted attempts to protest, Cedric picked up the newspaper from the table and carefully set it aside. "I don't want you straining yourself too much. With all of this worrying about the Ministry, and Umbridge… You even have DA to worry about. Just… don't push yourself too hard, alright? You know I worry about you." He told her gently, and before Harry could protest, he had leaned over and pressed a sweet kiss onto her cheek.

"I'm fine, Cedric." Harriet sighed at his words and despite herself, she couldn't help the sudden rush of guilty feelings that began to drown her when Cedric had tried to kiss her again so without meaning to, she winced and pulled away from him. "I just… I'm sorry. I need to be alone right now."

"Harry, what's wrong–"

She stood up from her seat, interrupting Neville in the middle of his worried protest.

"I'm okay, you guys…I just–" Harry forced herself to meet Cedric, Hermione and Neville's surprised expressions with a weak smile. "–I just want to clear my head for a bit. I'm going to go flying around the Quidditch Pitch. I won't be gone long." She told them, and when the other three teens just nodded uncertainly at her, she gave them a small, grateful smile and strode quietly out of the large hall.

* * *

Fifteen minutes later, Harriet took in a deep breath of fresh air before she mounted her Firebolt and took off into the sky. She took her time and flew gracefully around the Quidditch Pitch for about an hour or so, enjoying the cozy warmth of that morning. Eventually, she began circling herself around the hoops that stood on opposite ends of the pitch, inwardly regretting how much she and the rest of the Gryffindor Quidditch Team were currently out of practice ever since their fifth year had started. Apparently, Umbridge didn't seem to think much of promoting Quidditch for that year. In fact, when the High Inquisitor had announced sometime in the middle of the school year that she was cancelling Quidditch, all four houses – including Slytherin – had erupted into a chorus of angry cursing and booing.

Needless to say, that was the first of many times Harry had wanted to shoot the bloody woman.

_Honestly…Who in their right mind would cancel Quidditch?! _Harry fumed as she shot herself into a graceful arc and formed a perfect loop in the sky. _Unless she really is a simpering, festering, toad-faced hag whose only purpose is to make school a living hell for all students, then by all means. _She added sarcastically to herself as she circled around another hoop and dived sharply towards the ground.

Utilizing one of the many Quidditch techniques that Sirius had taught her when she was a kid, she skidded sharply into a halt just _inches _above the grass and effortlessly hopped off her Firebolt. Then, just as she had shouldered her broom and began trudging across the grass towards the locker rooms for a quick shower, she caught a quick flash of movement from the corner of her eye. Frowning, Harriet flicked her attention across the field to one of the stands nearby, and to her surprise, instead of finding it empty, she recognized the familiar blonde figure of the brooding student sitting quietly by himself.

_Draco…? _

Harry frowned, debating with herself whether or not she should approach him. She hadn't spoken to Draco since their last DA meeting, but she'd be lying if she said she hadn't been avoiding him.

Though seeing Draco now, especially the troubled expression etched onto his features, Harry couldn't help but hesitate and pause in the middle of the field. She watched his lone figure up in the benches until finally, after a long, weary sigh of defeat, Harry grumbled to herself but obliged by trailing slowly up the steps leading to the Quidditch stands. Whether Draco had noticed Harry or not when she neared him, however, he showed no indication of it, and remained silent as she sat down beside him.

Neither of them spoke for a long time, and it wasn't until Harry lifted her gaze and glanced at him that she realized he was staring at a copy of the Daily Prophet laid out on the bench in front of him.

"You okay…?" She asked softly, startling Draco out of his daze long enough so that he blinked and stared at her. When he looked confused at seeing her there, she offered him a hesitant smile.

Draco shook his head in response and wordlessly gestured to the newspaper in front of them. Following his gaze, Harry noticed that he was indicating the very same newspaper article Neville had shown her that morning – the grim announcement that ten Death Eaters had escaped Azkaban prison.

Withdrawing her gaze from the same picture of Bellatrix Lestrange laughing maniacally on the front page of the newspaper, Harriet sighed and lowered her head, wrapping her arms around herself.

"I saw that this morning…They're blaming it all on Crouch." She scoffed loudly, dropping her eyes to the ground. "Honestly…It's nearly impossible to escape Azkaban. Are we supposed to believe that those ten convicts escaped without help from the inside?" She looked up and met his gaze again.

Draco remained silent for a few minutes, his gaze still focused on the picture of Bellatrix in front of them. When he finally spoke up a few moments later, the strange softness of his voice startled her.

"Bellatrix Lestrange…is my mother's sister." He admitted quietly.

Harriet blinked a few times to herself, but she wasn't sure what she was supposed to say in response to that so she just kept silent. Fortunately, Draco didn't seem to notice her lack of response.

"I'm just…_worried, _I guess…For my parents, I mean." He noticed the way Harry's eyebrows came together in confusion at his words, and he smiled grimly at her. "If I know my Aunt Bellatrix at all, I expect she'll want to go after my mother soon. As well as my father. I'm just worried for their safety."

Harry's frown deepened and she couldn't help but give the other teen a skeptical look. "But… I don't understand. If Lestrange is your mother's sister, why would you be concerned about your parents' safety?" She asked, but to her further confusion, Draco seemed to be avoiding her eyes at the question.

"The other Death Eaters who escaped Azkaban…Travers, Dolohov, and Rookwood…. I suspect _all _of them are on the loose now and are hunting for my father." He noticed the way Harry's eyes had widened even more at his words so he managed to give her a wry smirk. "My father was one of the first few Death Eaters who turned right after the Dark Lord's fall, you see. He practically spoon-fed the Ministry information he had about the Death Eaters." Draco shook his head, shoving his hands into his pocket. "No doubt, the Death Eaters will be on the hunt now for his blood." He paled at his own words.

Harry winced at this but she nodded quietly in understanding. "Are your parents safe, Draco…?" She asked, and at that, Draco managed to give her a slow, shaky nod and turned his head to look away.

"They're…_safe…_For now." He bit his lip and dropped his gaze again, staring at the ground near his feet. "My mother wrote to me this morning… She told me not to worry. She and father had already gone into hiding." Draco let out a heavy sigh again and shook his head, his eyes flashing with frustration.

"I just…I just _hate _the fact that I can't _do _anything for them!" He ran a hand through his hair, mussing up the blonde strands. "—that I have to stay here like some _kid _and wait for _any _scrap of news from them assuring me that they're alright. I mean…they're my _parents! _I can't just sit here and—" He broke himself off in the middle of his own tirade and gritted his teeth, his eyes glinting impatiently.

"…I understand."

Hearing the softness of her voice, Draco glanced up and met the Gryffindor's bright green eyes. Harry blinked once and met his gaze evenly, and strangely enough, she realized that the fear and helplessness she saw in Draco's silver eyes were reflections of her own mounting concern for her father.

"I'm…_scared _too." She waited until the anger and frustration in the Slytherin's expression had simmered somewhat before she spoke again. "I haven't seen _nor _spoken to my father at all since the school year started." Draco's eyes widened in surprise at this but she continued. "And quite frankly, based on everything he's been doing so far, I can only assume the worst. He's making a _lot _of enemies…And now, with this mass breakout, I'm worried those Death Eaters will come after _him _next—"

She stopped abruptly, not having the strength or the stomach to finish her own thought. Surprisingly enough, Draco didn't push the subject, and the Slytherin merely nodded once at her to show her that he understood before he looked away again and shoved his hands into his coat pockets.

The silence that followed after was longer than the first but this time, Harry welcomed it, and she couldn't help bask in the feeling of calm and relief that overwhelmed her after their conversation. Strangely enough, Draco seemed to be realizing the same thing, and the dark expression that had previously marred his features was gone now and instead, he was gazing thoughtfully up at the sky.

Eventually, after another few minutes or so, Harry glanced at Draco from the corner of her eye. In a half-hearted attempt to break their solemn mood; she gave him a weak, playful nudge to the side.

"So what was up with that scene you made in the Great Hall a while ago, Malfoy…?" She waited until Draco had turned and halfheartedly met her look with a wry smile. "I've never seen Marietta like that. I thought she was going to slap you." She kidded, but Draco just gave her a disinterested shrug.

"Nothing but a petty issue. It was her own fault anyway, she shouldn't have been rifling through my things." Draco scoffed and shook his head in derision. "It started when she saw something in my bag, then she got the wrong idea, and it escalated until she snapped." He drawled with an irritated grimace.

"What did she see?" Harry asked curiously, glancing sideways at him.

Draco suddenly fell into an awkward silence at her words, and for a minute, Harry thought that he was going to ignore her question altogether when, to her surprise, he bent down and slowly reached into one of the pockets of his bag, extracting from it a small, rectangular box. At the look of confusion on Harry's face, Draco hesitated before he handed the small box to her and cautiously gauged her reaction.

She took it from him slowly, her fingers slightly shaking as she lifted the box's lid. The familiar glint of silver that greeted her as soon as she had opened it, however, caused all of the suspicious apprehension to drain away from her face and instead be replaced by a startled, but genuine smile.

"B—but…_how?_"

Draco studied her features closely until the infectiousness of her smile got to him, and the Slytherin's expression inexplicably softened. One corner of his lips lifted into a small, affectionate smile.

"I _thought _you might want that back." He didn't wait for her to respond as he reached out and took the silver locket from the box, holding it up and unclasping the chain. Then, smirking at the way Harriet was stammering out her gratitude, he took that opportunity to drape it gently around her neck.

"Th—this was my mother's locket. I've had it with me ever since I was a baby but…I just don't understand. I thought I lost this during the fourth task of the tournament last year." Harry stammered, fingering the locket as the cold silver touched the skin of her neck. "Where did you find it?" She asked.

"I found it a few days before we left for the holidays. It was buried underneath a mound of dirt by the edge of the lake." Draco watched her caressing the locket with an almost reverent expression on her face. "When I picked it up and opened it, I saw that it belonged to you. I was planning to return it to you after DA class that one time but…well…" He paused and let his voice trail off, purposely choosing to ignore the way Harry had flushed at the implication of his words. "… I guess, it just slipped my mind. Anyway…" He tried to draw her attention by giving her a small smirk and pointing to the silver chain.

"The chain was actually broken when I found it…So I had it repaired in Hogsmeade. That's also probably why Marietta got mad. She saw me in the jewelry shop that one time…So she probably thought I was buying the locket for her." Draco shrugged at this and shook his head in mild amusement.

Harry's eyes widened and she gaped at him with a fully flabbergasted expression on her face.

"I'm so sorry–" She began slowly but even before the words had left her mouth, Draco was already scoffing and shaking his head at her again, reassuring her apologies with a wave of his hand.

"Don't beat yourself up over it. It was her own damn fault anyway for making that assumption. Why in Merlin's name would I buy her a necklace?" Draco muttered under his breath, but when she opened her mouth to apologize to him again, he silenced her with a single glare. "I said it's fine, Harry."

Unsure of what to say to him at this point, Harry's eyebrows fused together but she nodded. After wrapping her arms around herself, she leaned back and offered Draco a small, beautiful smile.

"Thank you."

"It looks good on you." Draco mused softly, watching as Harriet enclosed the locket in her palm. She lifted her eyes up and met his gaze at his words, blushing as she rewarded him with another smile.

They fell into another long moment of silence after that, and neither of the two teenagers felt the need to say anything else as they simple sat there and enjoyed the peace of each other's company. Eventually, when Draco stood up and began to gather his things, Harry finally managed to force out the words that she had wanted to say to him the minute she found out about his concern for his parents.

"Draco…?"

Harry shifted uncomfortably when Draco turned to stare intently at her.

"I just–" She took a deep inhale of breath and met his questioning gaze with a firm but reassuring smile. "Both our fathers are okay…I know it. And we'll protect them, Draco…I…I _promise._" Harry paused and watched as understanding dawned slowly in Draco's eyes, and he smiled weakly at her.

"I know we will." He agreed softly, his eyes lingering on her face.

Then, turning slightly to the side, he surprised the dark-haired Gryffindor when he began to lean down carefully towards her, his expression going soft as his gaze rested on her smile. As soon as she realized his closeness, however, Harry suddenly called to mind their _last _encounter just a couple of weeks ago and she panicked, intending to pull away from him and scoot backwards along the bench.

Strangely enough, Draco seemed amused at her reaction but he didn't say anything as he reached out and gently tilted her chin up gently so he could give her a quick, sweet kiss on the cheek. When he pulled away and she gaped up at him, he gave the thoroughly flushed Gryffindor one last smile.

"See you around, Harry."

She couldn't find anything else to say after that, so she just watched as the Slytherin finally gathered his things and stood up, exiting quietly down the stands towards Hogwarts Castle. As soon as he was gone, Harry reached up slowly and touched the warm spot on her cheek where he had kissed her.

* * *

"Those who wish to join the Inquisitorial Squad for extra credit may sign up at the High Inquisitor's office." Daphne Greengrass read out loud from beside Pansy Parkinson, her lips twitching into a sneer. "How about it, Pans?" She glanced at the other Slytherin girl from the corner of her eye.

A wide and particularly malicious sneer was on Pansy Parkinson's face as she and a few other Slytherins stood in front of the wall of Decrees that morning and stared up at the latest Educational Decree that was being posted by Filch. Behind them, she heard a flurry of footsteps and rushed, panicked whispers coming from the rest of the students who were rushing hastily out of the Great Hall.

"I think–" Pansy paused, and with a particularly malicious expression on her face, she flipped her hair over her shoulder and met Daphne's curious look with a wicked smirk. "–it's time to make friends with dear old toadface." She quipped, causing both Slytherin girls to burst into a fit of hushed giggles.

* * *

**A/N: **Like I said, I don't particularly consider this one of my most exciting chapters in the story thus far but I hope you guys enjoyed it anyway. It was mostly a filler chapter to get the rest of the plot moving along, so hopefully, the next update will be more exciting to look forward to. :D

**Next Chapter: **Learning the Patronus Charm, the arrest of DA, Snape's worst memory, and the flight to the Ministry of Magic (dun-dun-dun!). So any guesses on what's going to happen? :D

At this point, I'm thinking that there are only 2 more chapters left for fifth year (including the next one), and then we're on to sixth year and a lot of DM/femHP goodness! :D

**As always, please don't forget to leave a review! Cheers, love, and all that! See you next update! :D**


	16. End Justifies the Means

**Harriet Potter and the Minister of Magic **

**Disclaimer:** I don't own Harry Potter or any of the characters you recognize from the HP books in this story. All I own is the plot. Everything else belongs to JK Rowling.

**Pairings**: DM/femHP (eventual). CD/femHP. RW/HG. BZ/GW. JP/LP (past). SS/LP (one-sided).

**Warnings:** Spoilers from canon (Books 4 to 7). Occasional time jumps from chapter to chapter. Mature content later on.

**Notes: ** Just a quick warning – there is a fair bit of Snape bashing in this chapter. So to all you Snape fans out there, please be warned! I truly am sorry, I have nothing against his character, I really don't. But the scene just fit in so well with the story that it just came out that way. So please, be nice to your kind authoress after reading this. *sobs*

* * *

**Chapter 16 – End Justifies the Means**

_"Expecto Patronum!" _

A beam of silver shot out from the tip of Draco's wand and suddenly burst into the air, taking the distinguishable form of a lean, gray wolf. From where he was standing in the middle of the room, Draco heard the loud gasps and exclamations from the other students watching but he barely noticed as he stared up in awe at his howling patronus with wide gray eyes. Once the gray wolf had vanished and Draco glanced around again, he managed to lock eyes with Harry just as she had smiled brightly at him.

"You got it!" She exclaimed, unwittingly drawing the attention of the other students huddled nearby. "That was it – your patronus! Good job, Draco!" She grinned at him, and when the other DA members heard this, they began to gather around them, cheering for Draco to cast the charm again.

"How did you do it?"

"Do it again, Draco!"

"Nice one, Malfoy!"

Draco withdrew his gaze from the crowd of students that had surrounded him and looked around. When he managed to meet Harriet's green eyes again, she smiled at him and he smiled back, slowly weaving his way through the group that had gathered around them and heading towards her.

"So…Do I get any house points, _Professor_?" He drawled teasingly when he reached her but Harry just laughed and shrugged at him, meeting his grin with a rueful smile. "If I _could _give you house points, I'd reward you with ten points to Slytherin, Draco." She told him, causing him to give her a mock scowl.

"_Just _ten points?" He complained, but Harry answered him with a flippant smile.

"You swished your wand the wrong way."

In spite of himself, Draco couldn't help laughing at the sarcastic tone of her voice.

"Just curious…What memory did you use…?" She asked when he glanced at her again, inadvertently causing Draco to flush as his gaze automatically dropped down from her eyes to her lips.

"I…uh—"

"Harry!"

Both Harriet and Draco glanced up just as Cedric had walked over to them with a disgruntled expression on his face. He failed to notice the way Draco's expression had suddenly shuttered at his arrival as he walked right up to Harry and slung an arm around her shoulders, drawing her closer to him.

"Good job, Malfoy." He commented distractedly over his shoulder at Draco before he turned to smile wearily at Harry. "Har, I think Ernie and I are close to getting our patronus charms right but we need you to show us how again. Can you come over and give us a hand?" He asked, waiting until Harry had nodded at him before he smiled and began dragging her off before Draco could say anything else.

"I'll see you later, Draco. Nice work." Harriet gave him one last smile before she allowed her boyfriend to whisk her off, failing to see the scowl on Draco's face as he watched her walking away.

He stiffened and gritted his teeth in annoyance as he watched Cedric dragging Harriet to the other end of the room where the other Hufflepuffs were practicing their Patronus Charms. As soon as they were gone and Draco belatedly realized that he was still glaring poisonously at them from across the training room, he cursed under his breath and reluctantly walked over to join Blaise and Theodore.

The two Slytherins were standing by the far side of the room and were conversing idly by themselves but when they saw Draco approaching them, Theodore smirked at him and gestured across the room. When Draco followed his gaze, he winced to himself and shrunk back further behind Blaise.

"Those Ravenclaws look like they want to skin you alive. What did you do _this _time?" Theodore drawled, causing Blaise to snigger and Draco to wince even further. Tearing his gaze away from Marietta's venomous glare at him, Draco shrugged and answered by giving Theodore a helpless smirk.

"We broke up two days ago. S_he _was the one who shouted that she never wanted to see me again so I thought it was a mutual decision." He mused, causing Blaise and Theodore to laugh again.

When they finally withdrew their gaze from the Ravenclaws, Draco found his gaze unwittingly moving back towards Harriet again. As he watched her, however, smiling up at Cedric and allowing the tall Hufflepuff to rest his hand on her waist, Draco felt his hands beginning to clench tightly into fists.

_What does everyone like about Cedric Diggory anyway?! Sure, he may be decent looking but he's a Hufflepuff! He's nothing but a simpering pushover! _Draco seethed to himself as he irritably scrutinized the Head Boy, seizing him up. _He and Potter don't fit well together, her personality is too strong and independent for a sissy boy like him! What the hell was Potter thinking?! _He added furiously, his eyes narrowing as he shifted his glare from Cedric to Harry. _Potter needs to be with someone with a personality just as strong as hers! Someone who can clash with her and keep the bloody git on her toes—_

"Malfoy…?"

Draco hastily tore his eyes away from Harry and glanced up to find Blaise and Theodore watching him. He reddened at the knowing smirks on their face and glared back at them in warning.

"What?!" He snapped, narrowing his eyes at them.

Blaise grinned, arching an eyebrow and chuckling as he gestured to Harriet across the room.

"You've got guts, Malfoy. I'll give you that." He mused, but when Theodore just sniggered at this and Draco's eyes narrowed even further at them, Blaise held both his hands up at him and laughed. "I mean… Pining for the Minister of Magic's daughter? _Really?_" He flicked his curious gaze back to Harry.

"Well sure…She's definitely a pretty little thing, I'll give you that." He and Theodore shared a grin and glanced appreciatively at Harry for few seconds, causing Draco to stiffen even more in anger. "But that girl is nothing but trouble, Malfoy. And to be honest, I don't think getting involved with her is worth it. Besides—" Blaise gestured to Cedric in question. "—isn't she already with Diggory?" He asked.

"She is." Theodore confirmed as he stared at Harriet across the room. "Otherwise, I would have already gone for her myself." He sniggered at his own words, ignoring Draco's warning glare at him.

"As far as I see it—" Draco paused, ignoring both Slytherins' curious expressions as he shrugged at them and crossed his arms smugly over his chest. "—unless Potter and Diggory are actually _married, _she's still fair game." He drawled, causing Blaise's eyes to widen and Theodore to laugh at his audacity.

"Wow…So you're actually going the snake route, Malfoy? Throwing the ol' male code of honor book out the window?" Theodore mused, arching an eyebrow at him but Draco just shrugged again and answered him with another smirk. He paused thoughtfully and glanced back at Harry across the room.

"We're Slytherins, Nott. We know no other way _but _the snake route. Besides—" He flicked his gaze back up and met Theodore's disbelieving expression with a wry grin. "—I don't believe I ever got a copy of that book anyway." He quipped back, causing both Slytherins to snigger under their breaths.

Blaise shook his head at him and gestured to Cedric across the room. "I don't think Diggory will appreciate you trying to steal his girlfriend, Draco. And to be quite honest, I highly doubt that Potter will appreciate your intentions either when she finds out about it." He warned with a disapproving look.

"Well…You know what they say, Zabini…" Draco smirked at him again, his eyes going soft as he stared at Harriet across the training room again for a few more seconds before he began to walk away.

"The end justifies the means." He muttered, but neither Blaise nor Theodore heard him.

* * *

"Oh Harry! You got your locket back!"

Marietta Edgecombe heard Hermione Granger's loud exclamation and looked up, her eyes narrowing suspiciously as she rested her glare on Harriet Potter across the room. The dark-haired Gryffindor had looked up and smiled warmly at Hermione, fingering the locket dangling from her neck.

"Yeah…I guess I did." She agreed, but she didn't say anything else after that and instead, drew her eyes up and glanced hesitantly at Draco from where he was standing a few feet away from her. The blonde Slytherin noticed her gaze and offered her a teasing smile, which Harriet hesitantly returned.

_Oh, I knew it! _Marietta saw red and her eyes began to narrow dangerously in jealous anger.

"Marietta? Are you okay?"

She stiffened at the voice that had spoken and looked up, meeting Cho Chang's curious expression with a forced smile. When the other Ravenclaw frowned worriedly at her, she answered.

"I'm fine. Hey, listen…I'm just going to go back to the Common Room, I think I left something. I'll be right back." She waited until Cho nodded at her before she slipped quickly out of the room. Instead of heading up to the Ravenclaw Common Room, however, Marietta froze in the middle of the long corridor and suddenly turned around, redirecting her footsteps so that she was headed to the Great Hall instead.

When she got there, Marietta cast a quick survey around the room to find who she was looking for before she reluctantly began heading towards the Slytherin table. Pansy Parkinson was right in the middle of a large group of giggling Slytherin girls when Marietta got there, but at the sight of her, Pansy froze midsentence and drew her eyes up, meeting Marietta's hesitant look with a sugary sweet smile.

"Why _hello _sweetie!" Pansy gushed as she stood up and pulled Marietta down to sit beside her. "Have you decided on what we talked about the other day?" She asked, and both she and Daphne shared a meaningful smirk before they both levelled their gaze on Marietta again. The Ravenclaw sat down uncertainly between the two Slytherin girls but nodded slowly, wrapping her arms around herself.

"I…think so—" She broke off when Pansy suddenly turned to Daphne and nodded, causing the other girl to stand up and rush quietly out of the Great Hall. "—where is she going?" Marietta asked.

Pansy merely smiled back at her, her eyes glinting maliciously.

"To fetch Umbridge."

* * *

"A full-bodied Patronus is the most difficult thing to produce – your turn, George!" Harry turned to look at George after she said this, watching as the red-haired Gryffindor raised his wand into the air.

"Expecto Patronum!"

A wisp of silver shot out of his wand and formed itself into an indistinguishable figure before it vanished entirely, but the effort was enough to make Harry and the other students grin widely at him.

"Fantastic, George!" Harry cheered, before turning back to address the rest of the crowd. "Just always remember, think of your happiest memory and stick to it – Luna, give it a try!" Harry smiled encouragingly at Luna and watched as the Ravenclaw raised her wand and pointed it up at the ceiling.

"Expecto Patronum!"

This time, they watched as the thin cloud of silver that shot out from Luna's wand formed itself into the shape of a hare, causing another round of cheers to erupt from the watching group. Harriet smiled at Luna and applauded along before she turned around and addressed the rest of the group.

"That was perfect, Luna!" Harriet paused after she had said this and walked to the middle of the room. "Just remember…Your Patronus can only protect you for as long as you stay focused. So focus, Ron. Think of the _happiest _thing that you can, and let that memory drive you." Harry turned her attention to Ron again, watching as her red-haired best friend winced but held his wand up into the air.

"Expecto Patronum!"

He was able to cause a quick beam of silver to shoot out from his wand but that was about it, and with a frustrated sigh, Ron shook his head and turned back to look at Harry. "I'm trying." He huffed.

"I know. And it's good, Ron. That was good." Harry smiled consolingly at him, reaching over and patting the other Gryffindor on the back. "This is really advanced stuff after all, so you're all doing very well." She reassured him, and she managed to earn a small smile of gratitude from Ron at her words.

"Thanks mate—"

"Colin, what are you doing over there? Stop that! "

Harriet and Ron looked up in surprise when they heard Cedric calling out to Colin Creevey from across the training room. Curious, they turned around and followed Cedric's incredulous gaze, watching as Colin knelt down and peered outside through a small hole in the entrance doors. Sensing the inherent risk in what Colin what was doing, Harriet frowned and was just about to follow Cedric towards Colin when a loud, eerily familiar voice suddenly reverberated from the other side of the entrance doors.

"I'll make short work of this. Miss Parkinson, please stand back!"

_Oh no. _Harriet's eyes widened in alarm and instinctively, she ran towards Colin and managed to yank the younger Gryffindor away from the doors just as she heard Umbridge's shouting a spell outside.

_"Bombarda Maxima!" _

Hermione, Ginny, and a few other of the girls gasped sharply as the doors to the Room of Requirement were blasted open, scattering dust and debris around the training room. From a few feet away, Fred, Draco and Blaise had stepped back and were staring at the entrance doors in shock. Eventually, when the dust had cleared and Harry and Colin found themselves gaping up at the sneering, looming form of Dolores Umbridge just as she was stepping into the room, they stood back up shakily.

_H—how? _Harriet's confused gaze flicked a couple of times around the room, moving from Umbridge's triumphant smile to Hermione's worried look, Draco's furious scowl, until her eyes finally rested on Marietta Edgecombe's uncertain cringe across the room. Soon enough, when Harriet realized just who exactly was to blame for their untimely guest, her eyes hardened and she growled at Marietta.

"You—!" She would have lunged at the other girl in outrage but before she had even managed to do so, someone else was already entering the room and Harriet heard a spell being directed her way.

"_Stupefy!"_

"Harry, watch out!"

Harriet gasped when she felt Cedric collide painfully against her from behind, shoving them both out of the way just in time to avoid being blasted by Pansy Parkinson's stunning spell. The Slytherin girl huffed in annoyance at this, but she was smirking as she climbed through the entrance doors and stood over Cedric and Harriet's forms on the floor. Taking in their angry glares, Pansy shook her head at them.

"Tsk. Would you look at that, Professor? Open displays of affection in public…And from our Head Boy too. How _disgraceful._" She mocked, sneering at the way Cedric had inadvertently landed on top of Harriet when he had pushed her out of the way of Pansy's spell. "We should punish them both."

"All in due time, Miss Parkinson. All in due time." Umbridge answered sweetly, her expression decidedly pleased as she took in the shocked and panicked expression on everyone's face. "But for now, I believe these children have committed something much more…_severe…_that requires our immediate attention." Her sneer hardened as she scanned the room, her eyes narrowing as they settled on Draco.

As soon as he recognized the malice in her expression, Draco stiffened and took a step back.

"Traitors and schemers, the lot of you! And just what exactly is this little gathering you have here, Mister Malfoy?! Is this you trying to stage a rebellion against the Ministry of Magic?!" Umbridge screeched at him, her high-pitched voice echoing around the room. When Draco just gaped at her, she directed her glare at Harriet and began screaming again. "And _you, _Miss Potter! How _dare _you side against us?! Don't think that your crimes will go unanswered just because you're the Minister's daughter, Miss Potter! This is _mutiny! _I will report you all to the Minister for your disloyalty!" She raged.

Harriet's eyes narrowed, and her hands trembled with anger as she clenched them into fists.

"We haven't done _anything _wrong, you toad! You have _nothing _against us!" She shouted back.

Umbridge's smile widened at her reaction and she raised a hand, indicating to Pansy, Daphne, and the rest of the members of the Inquisitorial Squad who were slowly beginning to gather behind her. From where she and Cedric were still on the floor, Harry paled when she saw Umbridge smiling at them.

"_Get them!" _

* * *

"This is absolutely _unacceptable, _Albus!"

Peter Pettigrew was practically spitting with rage as he slammed his fist against the wooden table in Dumbledore's office and loomed over Albus Dumbledore's calm figure seated behind his desk. From behind Peter, Umbridge nodded approvingly at his words and glanced spitefully at Harriet again.

"That is _precisely _what I told the Headmaster, Peter! I have been watching Miss Potter here and her little _friends _for weeks! And what's worse, one of them is the Head Boy while the other two are _Prefects _of this school! All of them were caught staging some kind of…_uprising _against the Ministry, Headmaster!" She raged again, pointing to the four silent teenagers in front of Dumbledore's desk.

Harriet chanced a quick glance at the three teens beside her. Cedric and Hermione were at her left while Draco was standing to her right, but while Cedric and Hermione were both staring at their shoes, Draco was scowling and was glaring back up at Umbridge with an intentionally defiant expression on his face. All four of them were standing in front of the table in the middle of Dumbledore's office.

"I see…And how did you find out about this, Dolores?" Dumbledore asked her politely.

Umbridge answered him with a cruel smile. "Miss Edgecombe was a decent enough child to come to her senses and confess to Miss Parkinson." She told him smugly, failing to notice the way Draco had suddenly looked up in fury. Flushing with anger, his irate glare travelled from Umbridge and flickered over to the student standing behind her. Undaunted, Pansy just smiled back sweetly at him.

"And look at _this, _Peter!" Umbridge withdrew her gaze from them and turned to Peter, slamming a piece of parchment onto the table and pointing furiously at it. "It says here, '_Dumbledore's Army'! _There, you see that?!" Umbridge whirled around and glared accusingly at Dumbledore again.

"This is proof of what I have suspected right from the beginning! We know the truth now, Dumbledore!" Umbridge declared as she smiled triumphantly at Dumbledore's calm expression. "All your fear-mongering about You-Know-Who… You even influenced the Minister's daughter and had her supporting you in your lies! It never fooled us for a minute – we saw your lies for what they were!"

Dumbledore arched an eyebrow at that and responded by giving her a questioning look. "And what is that, Professor Umbridge?" He obliged her again, staring up at the two irate Ministry officials.

Peter sputtered incoherently at Dumbledore's calm question while Umbridge just smiled again and pointed accusingly at him. "A smokescreen for your bid to seize control of the Ministry!" She exploded, but before Dumbledore could say anything else, she continued. "Why…If I didn't know any better, Dumbledore…I would even go as far as to say you're probably working with the Death Eaters, aren't you?" Umbridge tutted and glanced sideways at Draco. "You're both trying to seize control of the Ministry, so it makes sense! Well, we'll not put up with anymore of your lies!" She exclaimed at him.

Dumbledore merely stared back at her, but when Umbridge finally seemed to have fallen silent after she had said this, he leaned back against his seat and directed his quiet smile to Peter instead.

"It would appear Dolores has everything figured out, hasn't she Peter?" He asked cheerfully.

Peter's face unknowingly turned purple at his expression, and he scowled as he glared spitefully at the Headmaster. "Are you _mocking _me, Dumbledore?! Do you deny that you were influencing these children into staging your little uprising attempt against the Ministry of Magic?!" He hissed angrily.

"I do not." Dumbledore answered simply, shaking his head.

Peter and Umbridge gaped at him, and it took some time before Peter was able to recover.

"So you admit it then? You're conspiring against the Ministry?!" He challenged.

"Peter, I _do _believe I could not have made myself clearer." Dumbledore answered again, looking disinterested with the conversation altogether. He glanced up and met Harriet's horrified green eyes.

"Now, if you two don't mind—"

"N—no, he's _not!_" Harriet suddenly interrupted them, drawing everyone's attention to her panicked expression. From beside her, Cedric and Hermione stared at her in dismay while Draco shook his head furiously at her, the look in his eyes obviously warning her not to go through with her plan. She ignored them however and straightened, glaring at Umbridge and meeting the older woman's eyes.

"Professor Dumbledore had _nothing _to do with it! It was _me! _This whole thing was _my _idea—" Harriet was cut off when Hermione suddenly spoke up as well and drew their gazes to her instead.

"No, it _wasn't! _It was _my _idea! I _pushed _Harry to go along with it! It was all me—"

Dumbledore held a hand up, silencing both Gryffindor girls' adamant protests. "Harry…Hermione." He smiled kindly at the two girls and shook his head. "How very kind of you both to shield me but I'm afraid the jig is up. The parchment _clearly _says 'Dumbledore's Army'." He flicked his grim expression back to Peter and continued. "I did, in fact, instruct Harry to form this organization. So I, and I _alone, _am responsible for their activities." He concluded, much to Harry and Hermione's dismay.

"But…_Professor, _you can't—" Harriet stopped when she felt a strong male hand clutching hers tightly from behind, causing her to glance to her right and meet the warning look in Draco's silver eyes. He shook his head, indicating for her to keep quiet but when she glared back at him, he looked away.

"Dolores."

Umbridge looked up as Peter retracted his gaze from Dumbledore and addressed her.

"Dispatch an owl to the Daily Prophet. If we hurry, we should still make the morning edition." He instructed, his eyes narrowing as he turned back to sneer at Dumbledore. With that, he also gestured to the two huge Aurors who were standing watch just in front the entrance doors to Dumbledore's office.

"Dawlish. Shacklebolt. You two will escort Dumbledore to Azkaban to await trial and—"

"I thought this would happen." Dumbledore suddenly spoke up as he stood up from his desk, interrupting Peter right in the middle of his tirade. "You see, Peter…You seem to be laboring under the delusion that I'm going to…What was the phrase?" He smiled as Umbridge began approaching him.

"Come quietly?" Dumbledore shook his head and glanced at Peter again. "Well, I can tell you this. I have _no _intention of going to Azkaban. And to be quite frank with you, Peter, you have _no _authority of your own to force me to do otherwise…And seeing as I don't see the _real_ Minister of Magic here _anywhere _to properly arrest me for treason, I'm afraid I can't assist you any further." He told them.

"He's right, Peter!" Harriet interrupted again, ignoring the way Draco was practically squeezing the life out of her right hand. "You have _no _authority! Where is my father?! I want to see him, I want to _speak _to him! Let's see if _he _believes all of Umbridge's lies!" She shouted, her eyes flashing in challenge.

"He's _busy, _you little brat!" Peter hissed back at her with a cold, deliberately mocking sneer.

"Why are you keeping him from me?! What have you done with him?!" Harriet's voice broke as she screamed at him, and she would have lunged at Peter had Draco not clutched tightly onto her hand.

"_Enough _of this!" Umbridge suddenly snapped, interrupting the rest of Harriet's angry screams as she, Shackebolt and Dawlish began approaching Dumbledore with their wands raised. "Arrest him!"

Dumbledore didn't even attempt to run away at this point, and to everyone's astonishment, the Headmaster merely smiled at them before Fawkes suddenly flew over his head from where the phoenix had been perched on his cage beside the Headmaster's table. Dumbledore simply raised his hand, touching one of the Phoenix's talons, before he suddenly disappeared in a mass of bright red flames.

* * *

The weeks that followed after Umbridge had uncovered the truth behind Dumbledore's Army were _torture _not only for members of DA but for the rest of the school as well. With Dumbledore's departure, Umbridge had shocked everyone when she suddenly took over as Headmistress of Hogwarts.

And with that, the situation around the school suddenly became much, _much _worse.

Harriet, Hermione, and the rest of the members of DA, including Marietta, were all given a month's detention following the dissolution of the group – and it wasn't just normal detention either. Just as Umbridge had done with the previous detentions she had instigated on Harry, the High Inquisitor had greeted the DA members with a very special present that morning just as they were entering their assigned classroom for their very first detention – she had handed them each their own blood quill.

Paling, Harriet had glanced up and met Draco's grim expression across the room when she realized what Umbridge planned to do but before she could say anything else, Umbridge surprised them further when she specifically called for her and Draco and made them sit at the very front of the room.

Then, to their horror, Umbridge handed them both a different type of blood quill – one that was sharper and a few inches larger than the others, and smiled sweetly at them, telling them to get to work.

_I will not defy the Ministry of Magic. _Harriet remembered the words she had been forced to write almost as clearly as the way they had been etched into her skin – over and over and over again.

Needless to say, it wasn't hard to see that the ugly red scars that would mar the skin on the back of Harriet and Draco's hands the following morning were definitely much more severe than the others.

Unfortunately, that wasn't the end of Dolores Umbridge's ominous tyranny on the school.

Taking advantage of Dumbledore's unprecedented absence, Umbridge had apparently just gotten wind of the fact that Hagrid had gone missing for the first few months of school. When she came to see his Care of Magical Creatures class one morning, she began accusing Hagrid of treason as well.

That, coupled with how the High Inquisitor had also openly mocked Hagrid in front of all his students – which, coincidentally, happened to be the fifth year Gryffindors that morning – had nearly driven Harriet to hex the stout woman completely had Hermione not reached out and grabbed her arm.

"—if I were you, _gamekeeper, _I mightn't bother unpacking at all."

The smile that Umbridge sent Hagrid was vicious and cruel before she walked away, completely unaware of the way Hermione was practically wrestling with Harriet as she struggled to keep the green-eyed Gryffindor from tackling Umbridge to the floor and scratching her beady eyes out of her face.

Surprisingly enough, it turned out that Umbridge's initial accusation against Hagrid hadn't been far off from the truth. When Harriet, Ron, Hermione and Neville had visited Hagrid in his hut the next morning to talk to him about where he had been, Hagrid had reluctantly told the four of them the truth.

"Dumbledore sent me to parley with the giants." Hagrid whispered to them under his breath.

"_Giants?!" _Ron's eyes nearly bugged out of its sockets in shock.

"Keep it down, will ya?" Hagrid shushed him, his eyes growing wide as he glanced around their surroundings. "Yeh four aren't even supposed to know about all of that!" He admonished them lightly.

Apparently, Dumbledore had sent Hagrid to talk to the giants and persuade them to join their cause. After the initial shock of this news wore out, Hagrid went on to tell them that, unfortunately, Dumbledore wasn't the only one who was trying to win the giants over. While he was gone, Hagrid also encountered a few Death Eaters who had been sent there as well to recruit the giants to their side.

What they _didn't _understand though, however, was how despite the fact that Hagrid seemed to be insisting that the giants were accommodating with him, they spied a couple of bruises all over him. When Harriet pointed out as much, Hagrid winced guiltily at her and proceeded to tell them the truth.

Unfortunately, when he stood up and reluctantly led the four Gryffindors behind his hut to a clearing in the Forbidden Forest, Harriet could have sworn her eyes were popping out of their sockets.

"H—Hagrid…" Neville swallowed the lump in his throat and hesitantly withdrew his eyes from the figure in front of him, glancing nervously at Hagrid in disbelief. "What's going on?" He squeaked.

Hagrid winced again and nervously wrung his hands together as he watched their reactions.

"Aw…I know I probably shouldn't be burdening yeh four with something like this. But well…I imagine that with Dumbledore gone…It's not too long before I get the sack. And I just _couldn't _leave without telling someone about him." He paused and stared at the huge creature in front of them again.

"—h—him?" Ron looked as though he was about to faint.

Hagrid grinned at them and gestured to the large, hulking giant in front of them. "His name is _Grawp. _He's my brother." He spied the incredulous look on Harriet and Hermione's face and hastily corrected himself. "Well, _half _brother, really. He's completely harmless. And friendly—_GRAWP NO!_"

Harriet stumbled backward in alarm as the mousy-haired giant had reached out and swiped at them, managing to grab Hermione by the waist and lift the brown-haired Gryffindor up in the air. Hermione screamed at this and looked down, glaring desperately at her three friends gaping up at her.

"Harry! Don't just stand there, _do _something!" She screeched at the other girl.

Still gaping, Harriet managed to snap out of her daze long enough to glance pointedly at Hagrid.

"Hagrid, _do _something!" She hissed at him, breaking the half-giant out of his shocked stupor.

"Grawpy! That's not polite!" Hagrid called out, walking past Ron and Neville's stunned forms and stopping directly in front of Grawp. "We talked about grabbing people, remember? This is yer new friend 'Hermione'!" He tried to call out but unfortunately, Grawp didn't seem to be paying attention.

In fact, the giant seemed much more interested in inspecting the leaves of a large tree nearby. Having had enough of her friends' apparent inaction, Hermione shocked them all when she suddenly stopped struggling altogether and turned to glare at Grawp, calling out to him in a loud, stern voice.

"_Grawp!"_

Pausing in surprise, the giant turned to the brown-haired Gryffindor still clasped in his hand and blinked at her in confusion. Hermione was glaring back at him, crossing her arms angrily over her chest.

"Put me down…_Now._" She waited until Grawp seemed to realize her irritation with him. He hung his head at Hermione's reproachful expression and hesitantly set her back down on the ground.

Once Hermione was back on her feet, Grawp had slinked away, staring guiltily at Hermione like a lectured five-year-old child. Somewhat amused at this little exchange, Harriet hesitantly walked back over to stand beside Hermione and nudged the brown-haired girl to get her attention. "You okay?"

Hermione turned to her in surprise, but when she saw Harriet's grin, she rolled her eyes and nodded, turning back to watch as Grawp reached up and yanked a large fruit out from a tree. "I'm fine." She answered before she huffed and turned to glance at Hagrid. "He just needs a firm hand, is all." Hermione told him pointedly, to which the half-giant responded to by giving her a smile of agreement.

Grawp glanced back down at them, walking over to the two girls again and shyly reaching down, handing Hermione the fruit he had gotten from the large tree nearby. When Hermione hesitantly accepted the fruit from him, Grawp bent his head down low again and slinked back towards the forest.

Muffling his laughter, Neville walked back over to the two girls and smiled cheekily at Hermione.

"I think you've got an admirer, Hermione." He teased, causing Harriet to hide her laughter behind her hand when Hermione glared daggers at him and responded by swatting him on the head.

"Oh shut up, Nev—"

"S_tay away from her!" _Ron suddenly croaked out from where he was seething a few feet away.

Unknown to him, Harriet and Neville both ducked their heads to muffle their laughter at the expression they saw on the red-haired Gryffindor's irate face. Hermione just gaped at them in confusion.

* * *

"Potter, I find it less than amusing how you can't seem to make it on time for our sessions. I'm almost inclined to think that you aren't taking your Occlumency lessons very seriously at all." Snape sneered at her as Harriet entered his office for their usual Occlumency lesson that morning. She scowled back at the taunting expression on his face as she sat down on the chair in front of him and answered.

"It wasn't my fault, Professor. One of your precious Slytherins, Pansy Parkinson, saw me in the corridors and held me up. She took points off me for, in her words, 'being an insufferable attention whore'. " She seethed, but to her fury, Snape's sneer just widened at that and he leaned against his seat.

"How very astute of her then." He drawled back mockingly.

Harriet's eyes widened at his indiscreet insult, and her jaw dropped open in indignation.

"How _dare _you—"

"Severus?"

They both paused at the new voice that had spoken, their impending argument momentarily forgotten and looked up, their attention drawn to the red-haired woman who had peered into the office. Harriet recognized Autumn's warm smile immediately, but when the Herbology professor glanced apologetically at her and entered the room, Harriet was surprised at the grim look Autumn gave Snape.

"I'm afraid there's been a development." She paused uncertainly, and Harriet could have sworn that Autumn's gaze flicked cautiously over to her for a few seconds before she glanced at Snape again. "They need to speak to you for a few minutes." She added, but Snape just arched an eyebrow at her.

"Now?" He drawled back at her before he flicked his gaze back pointedly to Harry.

"I'm afraid so." Autumn nodded, and the expression on her face looked tense with worry. "You can talk to them in my office, they're using the floo right now. It'll only be a few minutes." She added when Harriet glanced at them again, flicking her attention back and forth between the two teachers.

"Very well." Snape sighed at this but nodded as he stood up, his expression suddenly grim. He turned to Harriet again, narrowing his eyes at the young Gryffindor in warning. "Do _not _touch anything in my office, Potter. I'll be right back." He growled, glaring at the mocking smile she sent him in return.

"Honestly, Professor…I'm almost inclined to think that you aren't taking this very seriously at all." She drawled loudly just as Snape had stood up and was beginning to walk out of the classroom. Snape stiffened at her words, his dark eyes noticeably narrowing in anger but he didn't take the bait.

Once Snape had left the room, Autumn turned to Harriet again and gave the younger girl another apologetic smile. "We won't take long Harry, I promise. Just sit tight." She reached down and ruffled Harriet's hair affectionately before she left, closing the door to the office shut tightly behind her.

As soon as she was alone, Harriet sighed and leaned back wearily against her chair. She let her bored gaze roam restlessly around the small office. When nothing in her immediate surroundings seemed particularly interesting, she leaned against her seat again and crossed her arms over her chest.

_Great…Another wasted afternoon. No offense to Dumbledore, but at this point, I just don't see the use of learning Occlumency anymore. Not when something terrible is clearly going on in the Ministry of Magic right now and my Dad could be in serious danger. _She mused quietly, tensing at the thought.

_ Besides…With Dumbledore gone from the school…It's only a matter of time now before— _Harriet cut herself off in the middle of her thoughts and looked up when she noticed something bright and silvery that seemed to be glowing from one of the tall wooden cabinets near the back of Snape's office.

Curious, she straightened up slowly from her seat and stared at the cabinet for a few seconds, watching as the silver glow seemed to fade for a few seconds before it brightened again, casting an almost imperceptible light around the room. Frowning, Harriet mentally debated with herself for a few seconds whether or not it was worth it to take a closer look at the item – granted, she had learned first hand in second year how some magical items were not to be tampered with – but she couldn't help it.

She stood up slowly from her seat and hesitantly began walking towards the open cabinet, her footsteps light and steady as they padded across the room. When she had reached the wooden cabinet, she swung its doors open slowly, staring in awe at the sight of the small crystal bowl inside which contained a strange, mercury-like substance that emitted a bright, eerie silver glow from its surface.

"Pensieve." Harriet whispered under her breath, using a single finger to poke at the silver liquid.

She had another mental debate with herself on whether or not she should leave the pensieve alone, but then again, Harriet knew she probably wouldn't have been able to sit patiently in the room after her curiosity was piqued like this either so she went ahead and pushed the cabinet doors open.

Then, after taking a deep gulp of breath, Harriet closed her eyes and plunged her face right into the silver surface. Almost instantly, she felt the floors of the office lurch around her, tipping her head-first into the pensieve. She gasped as she fell through icy cold darkness and felt her surroundings spinning rapidly around her until her feet finally hit the ground and she tensed, opening her eyes slowly.

_This…I know this place…_Harriet's eyes widened as she took in the familiar sight around her.

She was standing right smack in the middle of the Hogwarts Great Hall – exactly as she knew it looked like – but to her astonishment, the decorations and the overall look of the place was very, _very _different. Glancing around the room, Harriet noticed that the four house tables were gone and that, instead, more than a hundred smaller tables were positioned in neat rows and columns around the hall.

Sitting behind each of the tables was a single student, and each one of them was clearly engrossed in the middle of an exam as only the hushed scraping sound of a quill against parchment was heard in the silence of the large room. Sunlight was streaming in brightly though the open windows, and when Harriet glanced around the room again, she belatedly realized that she was in Snape's teen years.

_And if I'm right…And Snape is actually a student in this memory, then that also means that— _Harriet's eyes widened, and she didn't bother finishing her thought as she searched frantically around the room again, her eyes scouring the room for a Gryffindor student with a mop of unruly, jet black hair.

_Dad._

She singled out James Potter among the Gryffindors instantly, and despite herself, Harriet couldn't help the weak smile that lit up her face as she stared at her father's younger, teenage version.

To her surprise, it was just as Sirius had said – it was like looking at a male version of herself.

_Only more sophisticated…_Harriet added quietly to herself as her gaze inspected her father's primly adjusted uniform and expensive black shoes. _And definitely vainer. _She added with a reluctant smile, shaking her head as she noticed the way James kept reaching up and deliberately running a hand through his jet-black hair, messing it up even more to make sure it was standing on the top of his head.

To his credit, the teenage, younger version of James Potter was just as handsome as Tonks had described him to her in all her stories, but Harriet only seemed to have realized something else as well.

Her father looked like – well there was no other word to describe it – a poncy prick.

From where she was standing behind him, Harriet could see that her father was apparently already finished with his exam – his OWLs, in fact – and James was looking exceedingly smug with his answers. More to assert this than anything else, James yawned loudly and reached up, scruffing his black hair up again before he turned to the side and glanced at another teen seated a few feet away.

Following his gaze, Harriet's eyes widened in astonishment again as she found herself staring at the fifteen-year-old version of her godfather, Sirius Black. Much like her father, Harriet was amused to note that Sirius was obviously trying to exaggerate how he was already finished with his exam. He smirked smugly to himself and returned James' wide smile with a thumbs-up sign and a feigned yawn.

In spite of herself, Harriet had to admit that her godfather was _also _very good-looking.

Unlike her father, Sirius' dark hair fell into his eyes with a casual elegance that Harriet knew her father could only have _hoped _to achieve, and his features were noticeably refined and elegant – much like James' were. Harriet had to note that a few girls around the room kept glancing at both her father and Sirius with wistful expressions on their faces but neither of the two teens seemed to take notice.

Two seats away from one of the Gryffindor girls who were staring at Sirius, Harriet noticed another familiar face in the crowd and she couldn't help it – she felt her stomach squirm in surprise.

_Remus._ Harriet smiled to herself when she recognized him, though her features did crease with concern when she saw how pale and peaky he looked despite being absorbed completely in his exam. She wondered idly if the full moon was approaching by then, but she didn't get much of a chance to dwell on the issue further when another familiar face had caught her attention – and she stiffened.

Unlike the other three marauders, Peter Pettigrew was smaller and had a scruffier appearance – with his mouse-like hair and pointed nose. He was chewing nervously on his fingernails as he glanced down at his test papers, scuffing the ground with his shoes. Every so often, he would chance a quick glance over at his seatmate's test answers before wincing and turning back to his own with a loud huff.

_So he was always a loser even then. Why am I not surprised? _Harriet rolled her eyes as she walked away from him and began heading to the front of the Great Hall. As she passed by her father again, she saw that in his boredom, he was now drawing a golden snitch on a piece of scrap parchment.

When James glanced hopefully to his right, however, Harriet followed his gaze and froze – her eyes immediately growing wide as soon as she recognized the red-haired, green-eyed Gryffindor girl seated a few feet away. Without realizing it, Harriet felt her eyes beginning to blur with unshed tears.

"Mom…" Harriet whispered under her breath as she approached the Gryffindor girl slowly, taking great care to walk very quietly as though she were actually afraid of scaring her mother away.

When she managed to reach her and Harry got to stare down at her mother's young, fifteen-year-old self, she felt a painful tightening in her chest. She smiled tearfully at her mother's seated form.

Lily Evans was _beautiful. _

She had thick, beautiful red hair that fell down to her shoulders, and bright, almond-shaped green eyes– the same eyes that Harriet had. When Lily looked up from her exam and glanced idly across the room, Harriet saw that her mother's gaze had rested briefly on a Slytherin student a few seats away.

_Snape…?_

Harriet tensed, suddenly remembering that she was, in fact, trapped in the memory of her most hated Potions professor and not her parents. Frowning, she reluctantly began walking away from her mother and strode across the Great Hall to where she spied a few Slytherin students clustered together.

When she got to Severus Snape's fifteen-year-old self, she stopped and stared down at him, her eyes growing wide in fascination. As a teenager, Snape had the same stringy, pallid look about him that Harriet recognized. His hair was long, lank, and slightly greasy, and as he leaned down and scribbled something into his test, Harriet noted that his hooked nose was barely half an inch from the surface of the parchment. She read the bold heading of his examination paper – '_Defense Against the Dark Arts'._

"Quills down please!"

At the voice that had spoken, Harriet, and all the other fifth-year students seated in the Great Hall, glanced up and stared at Professor Flitwick just as he had walked to the very front of the room.

"That means you too, Stebbins! Please remain seated while I collect your parchments! _Accio!_"

More than a hundred parchments began zooming across the room towards Flitwick's outstretched hands, and Harriet couldn't help squeaking and ducking to avoid some as they flew over her head. As soon as Flitwick had collected all their test answers, the rest of the students around the hall stood up and hastily began gathering their things. Harriet chanced a look at her father again, watching as James jumped to his feet, stuffed his things into his bag, and walked over to join Sirius and Remus.

Looking around, Harriet managed to catch a glimpse of Snape a few feet away and she saw that the Slytherin was still heavily engrossed in his exam paper. Praying inwardly to herself that Snape didn't stray too far behind for Harriet to lose sight of her father, she followed the three marauders closely, walking a few steps behind them as James, Sirius, and Remus sauntered quietly out of the Great Hall. Harriet spied Peter as well, and she rolled her eyes as she watched him scrambling to follow after James.

As they walked away, Harriet saw that only a gang of chattering girls separated Snape from her father's group so, as luck would have it, she was able to keep Snape in sight while following her father.

The marauders talked amongst themselves for a bit, and Harriet observed that most of the conversation had revolved around how James was obviously trying to brag about how he had done on his exam. Amusingly enough, Sirius and Remus looked as though they were used to it at this point, so neither of the two entertained James, but Peter was nodding enthusiastically at him like a little fanboy.

When they began asking each other about one of the test questions, which had asked them to describe the characteristics of a werewolf, James and Sirius started teasing Remus while the werewolf just rolled his eyes at them and smiled. Apparently, Peter seemed to have screwed up his answers on the test for that question and James mocked him for that, sneering at him and calling him a dumb idiot.

"How thick are you, Wormtail_?_" James snapped loudly, rolling his eyes. "You run around with a werewolf once a month, are you that _stupid? _Honestly, it's almost embarrassing to be seen with you." He drawled, causing Peter to redden in embarrassment when Sirius sniggered loudly at James' words.

"Keep your voice down, will you?" Remus hissed at them, glaring warningly at James.

At his words, Harriet glanced around their surroundings again, but when she noticed that Snape had wandered off a good distance from them, she frowned worriedly. _This is Snape's memory…If he wanders off any further than that, I might not be able to follow Dad anymore. _She realized to herself.

Fortunately, when James and the other three marauders began heading off towards the lake, Snape followed, apparently still engrossed in his exam paper and with no clue as to where he was going. Harriet kept herself a few feet away from him while straining to listen in on her father's conversation.

James and Sirius were still bragging loudly to each other about how they both thought the OWL exam was easy and that they were so sure they were going to get an 'Outstanding'. After they sat down underneath a large tree that stood near the lake, Harriet plopped herself down onto the grass beside them and watched as James took a golden snitch out of his robe pocket and began playing idly with it.

"Where'd you get that?" Sirius asked, glancing at him with a bored expression.

"Nicked it from some Hufflepuff first year." James answered casually, smirking as he allowed the snitch to fly as much as a foot away from him before he caught it easily in his hand again. Although his reflexes were visibly top-notch, Harriet rolled her eyes at the way Peter was watching him with awe.

When Harriet looked up again and saw that Snape had settled himself on the grass by the dense shadow of a few clumps of bushes nearby, she stood up and moved a bit closer to sit near her father.

"Tsk….Back to picking on the first years again, Potter?" Sirius was still giving James a bored look.

"I didn't make this one cry. He just…got all teary-eyed and ran away." James smirked to himself as he caught the snitch in his hand and tossed it a few times in the air. "Pathetic, really." He scoffed.

Peter had laughed loudly at James' words while Sirius just gave him a deliberately disinterested expression and rolled his eyes. Remus, however, frowned heavily at him and shook his head in dismay.

From where Harriet had seated herself right beside her father on the grass, she looked up and watched the group of laughing girls who had just left the Great Hall and were now sitting by the lake, cooling their feet in the water. By now, James and the rest of the marauders had stopped talking and were now lounging quietly amongst themselves while staring at their surroundings in idle boredom.

Harriet watched as Remus pulled out a book and began reading, while Sirius leaned back against the tree behind them and stared around at the students nearby with a haughty and disdainful look on his handsome face. Meanwhile, James continued to play with the Snitch in his hand, letting it fly further away each time and always managing to grab it at the last second. Peter was watching him with his mouth hanging open, and each time James pulled off a difficult catch, Worm gasped and applauded.

After about five minutes of this, Harriet had to wonder to herself whether her father was getting as irritated with Peter as she was, but apparently, James seemed to be relishing the attention. In fact, he seemed to be messing his hair up more than usual, and kept glancing over at the girls seated by the lake.

When she followed his gaze again, she noticed that James was actually staring at her mother.

"Will you put that away already, Prongs?" Sirius suddenly snapped at him, rolling his eyes and giving him an irritated sneer. "Wormtail's about to wet himself with excitement." He added mockingly.

Peter reddened at this but James just smirked and shrugged.

"If it bothers you." He drawled back sarcastically, stuffing the snitch back in his pocket.

The four marauders continued to mull about in silence after that, which was soon broken by Sirius bluntly pointing out to them that he was bored and that he wished it was the full moon. Remus glared at him from behind his book at that and reminded him that they still had exams that afternoon. Both Sirius and James had snorted and retorted that they were more than prepared for Transfiguration.

Remus would have said more at this, but it was in that moment that the bored expression on James' face vanished and in its place, Harriet was stunned to see a malicious sneer on her father's face.

"This'll liven you up, Padfoot." James stood up, his hazel eyes glinting. "Look who it is."

Sirius' head turned as he followed the direction of James' gaze, and then, he became very still – like a dog that had suddenly scented a rabbit. His eyes narrowed and his lips twisted into a small smirk.

"Excellent." He said softly. "_Snivellus."_

Harry followed their gaze and could only watch in horrified disbelief at the very scene that began to unfold in front of her which would, undoubtedly, change her perception of her father forever.

Ignoring the disapproving frown on Remus' face, James and Sirius had both risen from the grass without another word, and both Gryffindors were smirking as they stalked across the field towards Severus Snape. Undaunted, the Slytherin had reacted instantly –as though he had been expecting an attack. Snape plunged his hand into his robes for his wand just as James had shouted, "_Expelliarmus!_"

When Snape's wand flew twelve feet into the air, Sirius laughed loudly and followed James' attack with one of his own. As Snape dived for his wand, Sirius knocked the Slytherin off his feet with his own spell and laughed as Snape stumbled back painfully to the ground in a tangle of his own pale limbs.

By now, a large crowd of students had begun to form around the scene, and while most of them, Harriet noted, looked apprehensive at what they were seeing, not one of them dared to interfere.

Snape was on the ground now but James and Sirius advanced on him again, both of their wands raised. Smirking, James glanced over his shoulder at Lily again, but he failed to see the horrified expression on the red-haired girl's face as he turned back to Snape and towered mockingly over him.

They exchanged a few words here and then, but most of the talking had come from James and Sirius – both Gryffindors exchanging smirks and talking out loud about how Snape had soiled his test papers with the grease from his nose. The crowd of students laughed loudly at this, and it was obvious to Harriet by now that while James and Sirius were obviously bullies, Snape was also clearly unpopular.

A few feet away from them, Harriet saw how Peter was laughing almost shrilly with the crowd but she didn't pay him any more attention. Paling in dismay, she watched as Snape struggled to get up from the ground despite Sirius' hex, all the while hissing and growling up at James with utmost hatred.

Sirius taunted him again, and Snape began screeching curse words at them. James' grin widened and he raised his wand up, pointing it at Snape's bound figure on the ground. With a quick 'scourgify' spell, pink bubbles began foaming from Snape's mouth, making the Slytherin gag and nearly choking him.

_"STOP IT! POTTER, LEAVE HIM ALONE!" _A girl screamed at them from a few feet away.

Looking up from where she was watching the scene unfold with both her hands over her mouth, Harriet watched as her mother, Lily Evans, ran up to James and Sirius and glared at them in great dislike. They exchanged some nasty words, and Harry could not help but notice how despite Lily's visible disdain for him, James' voice would noticeably soften and become more pleasant whenever he spoke to her.

Still, that didn't seem to quell Lily's hatred of James at all and after another round of heated insults, James grinned at her and bluntly told her that if she went out with him, he'd leave Snape alone. Lily was practically seething by now and glared at him as though he was the most disgusting thing alive.

"I wouldn't go out with you if it was a choice between you and the giant squid." Lily said flatly.

Sirius smirked at that, but just as he was about to taunt his irate best friend further, he noticed that Snape had managed to break free and was now pointing his wand at James. "Oi Prongs, look out!"

It was too late, however, and one flash of light later, James found himself sporting a painful looking gash on the side of his face, his robes spattered with blood. He snarled and rebounded instantly by sending a spell at Snape, making the Slytherin hang upside down in the air with his robes falling over his head to reveal skinny pallid legs and a pair of greying underpants. The crowd of students around them howled with laughter at this, but Harriet and Lily covered their sharp gasp again with their hands.

As James, Sirius and Peter doubled over with laughter; Harriet turned away and shook her head furiously, clenching her eyes shut in an effort to drown out the loud sounds of laughter all around her.

When the cruel laughter finally began to fade away and Harriet dared to open her eyes again a few minutes later, she was confused when she saw that she was no longer standing with her father by the lake. Instead, she was standing a few steps behind Snape in the middle of the Hogwarts Owlery.

At first glance, Snape appeared to be older this time – perhaps he was sixteen– and he was currently fussing with a piece of parchment in his hand. Flushing, he muttered under his breath, and finally looked up, beckoning a large, tawny gray owl over to him and tying the parchment around its leg.

"Persephone…Take this to Lily, okay…? Make sure she gets it." Snape whispered softly to her as he stroked the owl gently and smiled to himself. "Oh don't look at me like that, I _told _you I'd ask her out, right? I just…well…I couldn't do it in person." He flushed darker at his own words and shook his head.

"Who am I kidding? It'll be a miracle if she even agrees to show up at all. Well..." He sighed and glanced at his owl again, giving her a weary smile. "Here's to hoping she does, I guess." As Snape continued to talk to his owl, Harriet heard a snigger behind her and took a quick look around the room.

Her eyes narrowed, however, when she caught a brief glimpse of what appeared to be two pairs of dismembered _shoes _on the floor, and from there, it didn't take long for her to figure it out. Frowning, Harriet glanced over at Snape again, and when she saw that he was still busy with talking to his owl, she

began walking towards the very back of the room. Soon enough, she began to hear snippets of her father's hissed conversation with Sirius from where the two were hiding under James' invisibility cloak.

"Are you _sure _about this?!" Sirius was hissing under his breath to James.

"Of course! You think I'm going to let that greasy-haired git have _my _girl?!" James snapped back.

Harriet heard Sirius scoffing at James' words. "You do know Evans still hates your guts, right?"

"Only because she hasn't even given me a chance yet!" James retorted.

She watched as both Gryffindor boys continued to argue with each other under the invisibility cloak, waiting until Snape had finally given his owl one last stroke before he strode out of the Owlery. As he walked away, Harriet froze when the surroundings around her began to swirl again and the memory began to shift. A few seconds before the Owlery had faded completely, Harriet managed to look up just as James and Sirius had materialized out of thin air and grabbed Snape's owl just as she was flying away.

_What the hell do they think they're doing?! _Harriet's eyes widened in alarm at this but before she could react, the memory before her had faded, and soon her surroundings began swirling again. When the swirling mist had cleared and Harriet was able to make out where Snape's pensieve had taken her this time, she saw that she was standing beside Snape just by the large entrance doors of Hogwarts.

It was evening by then, and beside her, Snape was practically seething with fury as he stared in shock at the sight of James Potter and Lily Evans walking hand-in-hand back towards the school from Hogsmeade. From where they were, Harriet saw that Lily was blushing as she smiled up at James. Likewise, the black-haired Gryffindor smiled back at her as he bent down and kissed her on the cheek.

When he pulled away again and looked up, meeting Snape's furious, gaping expression a few feet away, the expression on James' face hardened and his eyes narrowed slowly in challenge. Then, after taking a quick glance at Lily to make sure she wasn't looking, James reached into his pocket slowly and held up in his hand, what appeared to be the long, written-out letter than Snape had made for Lily.

At the way Snape had reddened in fury, James smirked back triumphantly at him.

"I win." He mouthed, his smirk widening when he saw the utmost rage on Snape's face.

The Slytherin roared with anger and began hurtling furiously towards James—

"Having a laugh, Miss Potter?"

Gasping, Harriet tore her wide-eyed gaze away from the scene of a sixteen-year-old Snape tackling her father to the ground and whirled around, paling when she was met with the sight of her Potions Master sneering down at her. His eyes narrowed slowly, and he glanced over her shoulder, watching with a cold, harsh glint in his eyes as Lily began screaming at his sixteen-year-old self to stop hurting James and that she never wanted to speak to him again. Snape stiffened and tore his gaze away.

With a single flick of his wand, they were back in Snape's office and Harriet realized she was shaking as she took a few steps away from him and looked up, staring uncertainly at his rigid stance.

"P—Professor, I—" Harriet's voice sounded feeble even to her as she tried to find the right words to say. "I—I'm sorry, I didn't meant to. I—I mean, I—" She gasped sharply again when Snape reached down and yanked her roughly by her collar, hoisting her up so that her feet dangled in the air.

"Y—You…" Snape's voice broke, and his hands were shaking as he hoisted Harriet up higher into the air again and hissed at her through gritted teeth. "Potter…You…are…_never…_to set foot in my office again…_Never…_Is that understood?" He asked softly, his words barely audible but she heard every word.

Swallowing audibly, Harriet blinked furiously at him as her eyes began to blur with tears.

"U—understood…Professor, I—I'm sorry—"

"_GET OUT, POTTER! GET THE FUCK OUT OF MY OFFICE! JUST GET THE FUCK OUT!" _

Trembling at the raw, unadulterated anger and humiliation she heard in Snape's bellowing roar, Harriet gasped again, and as soon as he dropped her back painfully on the floor, the dark-haired Gryffindor scrambled back up and ran, paling as she heard Snape still exploding with fury behind her.

* * *

Harriet wrapped her arms around herself and avoided her godfather's gray eyes. From where his face was floating in the middle of the fireplace in the Gryffindor Common Room, Sirius frowned at her.

"What is it, little Prongs? Are you okay?" Sirius asked her gently, noting the definite slump in his goddaughter's shoulders and the way she seemed to be glaring at him with reproach in her features.

"Is everything okay? Are you hurt? Do you need help?" He asked uncertainly.

"No, Sirius…It's nothing like that. It's just…" Harriet sighed and finally drew her eyes up, meeting her godfather's expression with a slight frown. "I just want to talk…about my Dad." She began quietly.

At once, Sirius' expression sobered at her words and he looked hesitant as he answered. "Harry I already told you about the situation in the Ministry. I can assure you that your father is safe but I—"

"That's not what I meant, Sirius." Harriet interrupted him softly, shaking her head. Sighing, she dropped her eyes to the floor again, unsure of how to bring up all that she had seen in Snape's office, but when Sirius called her name softly again, she finally forced herself to meet his worried expression.

Reluctantly, she began to explain to him what she saw that morning – from the memory of Snape being hung upside down and exposing his underpants in front of a large crowd of students, to James and Sirius apparently stealing Snape's letter for Lily in the owlery, until she got to that last painful memory where Snape had found out what happened and attacked James in front of Hogwarts castle.

It was an excruciating story to tell, and as soon as she was finished, Harriet realized that the corners of her eyes were prickling with tears. Furious with herself, she blinked them away and slowly glanced up at Sirius again, noting that the entire time she was telling her story, Sirius hadn't said a word.

Then, after a long, agonizing moment of awkward silence, Sirius finally spoke up in a quiet voice.

"Harry…You shouldn't judge me _or _your Dad based on what you saw. We were teenagers—"

"_I'm _a teenager, Sirius!" Harriet raged back at him, her eyes flashing angrily.

"Look, little Prongs…." Sirius paused as he tried to think of the right words to say. "Your father and Snape hated each other from the very minute they laid eyes on each other. I think James was everything that Snape wanted to be – he was smart, he was popular, good at Quidditch… good at pretty much everything. And Snape was this…_oddball _who was up to his eyes in the Dark Arts. And James, well… As you know, Harry… Your Dad has always _hated _the Dark Arts. Even then." He explained softly.

"Yeah…But that still doesn't explain why you _both _attacked Snape in fifth year for absolutely no reason other than being _bored._" She answered him, unable to mask the angry accusation in her voice.

"I'm not proud of that, Harry. I'll admit that." Sirius placated her with a cringe. "But Harry, you _do _have to understand that…Well…Your father and I…Back in school, we were the biggest pricks in our year. I mean—" He ducked his head sheepishly when Harriet just scoffed at him. "—we couldn't help it. We were the best in _everything _we did, every _subject, _every _sport. _And because everyone thought that…I don't know, we were the 'height of cool' or something, James and I sometimes got carried away."

"You mean were you were arrogant, self-obsessed jerks." She muttered under her breath.

Sirius laughed helplessly at the disdain he heard in her voice and he hung his head in guilt. "Yeah… I guess we _were, _Harry… But honey, I thought you already _knew _that from all the stories that Remus and Tonks told you. Surely, you couldn't have been that surprised?" He tried to tease her gently.

"I thought you two were _pranksters, _Sirius…pranksters_, _not _BULLIES! _Much like the Weasley twins are!" Harriet told him, her eyes flashing. "The way you two were picking on Snape was _ten times more horrible _than the way Draco Malfoy used to pick on me!" She added with a miserable frown on her face.

"Draco Malfoy was picking on you? I ought to skin his sorry carcass alive—" Sirius tried to joke.

"Sirius!" Harriet growled at him, her features creasing into an angry scowl.

"Alright…alright, Harry." Sighing heavily, Sirius winced again and smiled weakly at her. "Your father and I were idiots back then…And we're still idiots _now, _to be honest." He waited for Harriet to smile at that but when she didn't, he cringed again and continued. "But as you can see, we've matured now… We know the mistakes we made and we tried to atone for them during the war. We even tried to apologize to Snape one time at his house. It was James' idea to do that." He told her, much to her surprise. When she seemed to be waiting for him to elaborate, Sirius smiled wryly at her and continued.

"Of course, Snape slammed the door right in our face and kicked us out onto the street. And honestly, we can't really blame him for that. But the point is, we've _changed, _Harry. We're not the same stupid, arrogant pricks that we were…_You _should know that." He told her, giving her a consoling smile.

Swallowing the dry lump that had formed in her throat, Harriet listened to his words carefully, taking each of them to mind, before she finally managed a weak, shaky smile at him and shook her head.

"My Dad…He…He kept messing up his hair." She croaked out in a pained, exasperated voice.

Sirius laughed brightly at that, his eyes twinkling with mirth as he recalled the memory. "I forgot how he used to obsess over his hair back at school." He mused, shaking his head. "He was an idiot."

"And…" Harriet paused, determined to flesh out everything that she had seen. "—he kept staring at my mom like some kind of…_pervert. _I don't know how she could stand it!" She blurted out.

Sirius' lips twitched at that and he shrugged at her. "Well, he always made a fool out of himself whenever Lily was around, Harry…But that didn't stop him from showing off." He added with a smile.

"Why did my mom ever marry him?" Harriet asked him miserably. "She _hated _him!"

At that, Sirius' grin widened and his eyes twinkled as he smiled affectionately at her.

"Of course, she did." He agreed, laughing.

"Huh?" Harriet blinked and stared at him as though he had grown three heads.

Sirius laughed again, looking thoroughly amused at her confused expression but he managed to calm himself down long enough so that he explained to her what he meant. "Harry, your mother and father drove each other _crazy_…But if they hadn't, they might have never fallen in love as much as they did." He explained to her, chuckling affectionately at her when Harriet just stared at him in disbelief.

"But Sirius…" Harriet blinked again and averted her gaze from his. "I just felt…_sorry _for Snape…When you and Dad took his letter and kept it…How could you guys do that?" She whispered.

"Oh Harry." Sirius' expression softened and he averted his gaze from her as well, looking away. "Your father was a fool in love…He was madly…_madly _in love with your mother. And well… As you know, people in love do…_crazy _things." He bit his lip and looked up again, meeting Harry's eyes with his own. "So he took Snape's letter…Since it wasn't signed, James rewrote it in his hand…Changed the place that Snape had asked Lily to meet him…And James sent the new letter off and met Lily instead." He told her.

Harriet paled at his words, and her voice shook with anger as she ground out. "That wasn't fair to Snape _or _to my mom, Sirius! Why would you and Dad do something like that?!" She raged at him.

He stared back quietly at her, his expression unreadable.

"Lily would never have met with James on that date if he hadn't." He told her quietly.

"That's beside the point, Sirius! That wasn't his choice to make! Nor _yours! _It was Mom's! What you guys did was wrong!" Harry shouted, and she was trembling with emotion as she glared the floor.

They fell into an uneasy, uncomfortable silence after that, and for a long time, neither of them could think of anything else to say. Finally, when Harriet managed to force herself to look up again and meet her godfather's remorseful expression, she stared at him and spoke up in a soft, broken whisper.

"Tell me the truth…Did Mom really _love _Dad, Sirius…?"

Sirius' eyes widened and he looked crestfallen at the doubt in her voice but he managed to recover himself quickly enough so that he shook his head and answered her with a firm, reassuring look.

"Harry…" He swallowed painfully and spoke to her in a soft but clear voice. "Harry…The man Lily Evans loved _wasn't _the man who wrote that love letter…" He paused, waiting until Harriet met his eyes again before he continued. "The man your mother fell in love with…was the man she met that night – that was your father. If you don't believe _anything _else I tell you about your Dad, at least believe that."

Harriet was silent at this, and it took a long time for her to speak again.

"Did she ever find out?"

Sirius met her eyes and responded with a slow, quiet nod.

"What happened?" Harry asked, her voice a dry, raspy whisper.

"It was the night before their wedding." He winced to himself, calling to mind the memory. "James told her what he did…They fought, of course. And Lily was crying when she ran away…She…went to Snape…She talked to him. She apologized profusely to him for what happened." Sirius met Harriet's wide-eyed gaze and gave her a grim smile. "James was terrified that night…And heartbroken. He was afraid he'd lost her forever and that Lily wasn't going to come back. Still, he waited for her at the altar that next morning… Merlin forbid, I remember how he looked as white as death." Sirius shook his head.

Harriet was unaware of how she was holding her breath as she waited for his next words.

"But then…There she was…All beautiful and radiant and glowing exactly the way a bride _should _glow in her wedding gown. She walked down that aisle towards James with that loving smile on her face… I _knew _right then and there that she loved your father more than anything." Sirius smiled at her.

Harriet looked away as a single tear had managed to escape her eye and rolled down her cheek. Closing her eyes, she waited a few seconds for the raw emotion that was tightening in her chest to simmer down somewhat before she opened her eyes and looked at Sirius again, staring quietly at him.

"Was she happy with Dad?" She asked softly.

"Everyday, love…_Everyday._" Sirius' expression softened, his eyes dimming with sadness. "It didn't take a genius to see the kind of love those two had for each other. And forgive me for saying so, little Prongs…But maybe…Just _maybe…_In their case…I'd like to think that the end justifies the means."

When Harriet seemed to blink in confusion at his words, Sirius smiled uncertainly at her.

"Seeing the strength of the love those two shared…And seeing you born into this world because of that love…, I'd like to believe that maybe what James and I did that night… Stealing that letter…Little Prongs, I'd _truly _like to believe that maybe it was all worth it." Sirius finished with a pained, heavy sigh.

In her silence, Harriet couldn't find anything to say in response to her godfather's words.

* * *

It happened in the middle of their final OWL exam that afternoon.

_"I need that Prophecy." _

_ James was kneeling right in the middle of a large room, and Voldemort's snake-like form was looming over him with his wand pointed directly at his throat. The Minister of Magic was bleeding profusely from a painful looking gash to the side of his head, and he cried out in pain when Voldemort had pointed his wand at him and cackled, forcing James into a crumpled heap on the cold stone floor. _

_ "You'll have to kill me first." James managed to answer him in a choked, raspy voice. _

_ Voldemort's bright red eyes gleamed maliciously at his words and he laughed again as he pointed his wand at James' bloodied form, forcing the Minister of Magic back up into a kneeling position. _

_ "As you wish then, Minister." Voldemort hissed softly at him. _

_ James clenched his eyes shut as he felt Voldemort's wand pressing against his forehead. _

_ "Avada—" _

Harriet's chilling, bloodcurdling scream sliced right through the quiet atmosphere of concentration around the Great Hall that morning, sending the rest of the fifth year students into a state of nervous panic. Gasping, the students around the Great Hall all turned and watched in horror as Harriet clutched at her scar and stumbled from her seat, her test papers and quills spilling out haphazardly onto the floor. Sobbing, she ignored Umbridge's angry shrieks at her from the front of the room and grabbed her wand, tearing as fast as she possibly could towards the doors of the Great Hall.

* * *

**A/N: **Phew… Now _that _was an insanely long chapter even for _my _standards. And now, I feel completely _drained _of all energy. Haha. And yeah, yeah…I know that Harriet's not supposed to be able to talk to Sirius in the Common Room that freely like she did in this chapter. I think their original conversation in canon actually happened in Dumbledore's office, with the Weasley twins distracting Umbridge away so Harry could use the floo network but humor me, guys. This is fanfiction anyway, so no worries! ^_^

So…Who's game for the next update?! :D

**Next Chapter: **I won't say much…only that the title of the next chap is '**The Order of the Phoenix'** ^_^

**But of course, before anything else, I need to hear all your thoughts! REVIEW PLEASE, MY LOVELIES! You know your thoughts and comments mean the world to me! So until next update, CHEERS! :D**


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